Pokemon Reborn : Onto Darkness
by Lightarc
Summary: Alice Winthrop, veteran trainer, 3 times league runner-up, rises up to take on the Reborn Region where only the best of the best of the trainer world can thrive. However, once vibrant now the region is a home of decay, crime and corruption while within it's shadows, a threat seek to destroy the region. Will she rises up to to be the best or swallowed by the darkness of Reborn?
1. Prologue

It was a calm and sunny day for a bustling metropolis littered with skyscrapers. Everyone, trainer and the like walked it's street in relative peace. All with the exception of one person.

Alice Winthrop, for the lack of better word, was quite bored as she sat on her desk all the while mindlessly surfing the web for anything that might be of use.

A seasoned trainer she is, but even the most seasoned trainers tend to fall at the last second against the champion of any region. Her most recent memory simply served to remind her of her loss against a champion.

That was...unacceptable, which is saying something after her third loss against someone of high caliber.

And now she was surfing the web for something to do before dinner, if only because she lacks the destination for her next league challenge she'd rather take.

As she was scrolling the screen of the latest Mega Evolution magazine, the corner of her eyes came upon something. Curiosity overcame her and she scrolled back upward, it reveals to be an advertisement, about something called, 'Challenge'

Alice is a girl of challenge, she likes it, she lives for it. Otherwise, she would not find the satisfaction in defeating her opponent. Of course, she'd rather not make a habit of losing either. Perhaps this challenge might give her the satisfaction she needs and the culmination of skill needed to take on anymore champions.

Wanting to know more, she clicked the image and soon a newer tab overtook the screen as the girl began to scan it.

Needless to say, she was in trance as she read it. Never before she read such things with that level of intensity, unless it's a Pokemon magazine for the latest trainer trend.

The scrolling finally stopped and she find herself with the name of the region that it advertised. "...Reborn." Alice nodded as her mind began planning for the inevitable future.

As the light of dawn began to surface across the horizon, Alice walked, now donning a sleeveless black grey shirt with a white collar, a short black grey skirt and detached sleeves of the same color with white lining. To top it all off, she wore white sneakers coupled with socks of the same color as her shirt that travels upward, stopping short near her skirt.

For this endeavour, Alice decided that leaving her veteran party at home would be most desirable. If she is to become the most powerful trainer in the world, then she must challenge herself by tackling this so-called Reborn Region without the help of her veteran Pokemon.

She was ready, ready to tackle the new region with determination. Perhaps finding some new Pokemon along the way.

Walking across the deserted pavement, Alice saw that the familiar building that is the station is in sight, housing a familiar bullet train that will take her halfway across the world. With that, she continues to walk at a leisurely pace.

"Alice!"

Of course, her pace halted when she heard the familiar voice of a relative.

Turning around, as expected, she came face-to-face with her mother. She is the spitting image of Alice, only dressed in casual black tank top, longer blonde hair with two, curving locks of hair framing her face and was topped off by a black bow on her right cheek which results in a wavy lock of hair.

But that still leaves Alice with some questions regarding the impromptu delay. "Mom?"

As if she was running a marathon, the older woman took a couple of deep breath to calm her heart. Alice waited patiently, knowing that it's not like the train will be going anytime soon.

And so, she was presented with a familiar bag, the staple of many trainers worldwide.

Alice's face was as expressionless as ever, but if one were to look closely, they would be able to see a hint of red across her cheeks. Alice can't believe it herself she actually forgets about her bag.

Sighing to calm herself down, Alice returned her mother's help with a smile. "Thanks, mom." Taking the bag and slinging it across her shoulder, she found that it was not as heavy as she had thought.

"I know that you want to go to Reborn as soon as possible Alice, but you could have at least said goodbye." Alice's mother chided gently.

Now Alice felt horrible, her desire had overcame her common sense it seems.

"I'm sorry, mom. I don't have any excuse for that." Alice apologized softly.

Smiling, her mother walked a few paces across before hugging her only daughter.

Alice admitted, this would ruin the stoic image that she maintained, but it was her mother so she made an exception and hugged her back.

"It's okay." Alice's mother said, patting her daughter's back before she separates herself to look her daughter in the eye. "I'm sure anyone would be excited when they travel to a newer region."

Alice decided to stay quiet during the exchange, waiting for her mother to make the next move.

Seeing her daughter being so stoic, Alice's mother simply smiled again. "Look at you, just like myself in my youth. Well, I won't be keeping you any longer, you have a train to catch right?"

Alice simply nodded, knowing that it is time to depart from her mother's familiar presence for a while.

Giving her mother one last smile, she decided to turn around and resume her walk. Knowing that looking over her shoulder would only guilt trip her, she will not do any such action.

"Alice!"

Sighing, she glanced over her shoulder at her mother. "What is it?" Alice questioned, admittedly getting tired at being called again.

"Be careful now, you hear. I hear that the Reborn Region is much more difficult that most other regions from what my friends say." She hollered.

Which is exactly what Alice wanted. If what the advertisement said was true, then some of the higher gym leaders would be able to easily surpass Cynthia or Red herself. If she failed to defeat the Elite Four or Champion, then she wanted to at least be able to defeat the entire gym in the region.

Setting aside the matter for now, Alice nodded back at her mother. "I will, mom."

Resuming her pace, Alice saw the sunlight peeking over the horizon which began to blind her. Quiet she maybe, but even she can appreciate the beauty of nature even as she walked.

Meanwhile, Alice's mother saw the retreating figure of her daughter. She was already starting to miss her, but as every mother knows by now, a child must leave its nest someday. Alice did that three times already.

She can only gave her daughter a final farewell. "Take care, Alice."

If the registration is correct, then this train would be scheduled to arrive and the acting manager of the Reborn League Administration would meet her at the train station. That would be the place where she is given the run-down of the region.

Of course, that means, Alice have yet to arrive even with the absurd speed that is the bullet train she is in. Reborn is apparently far away compared to most regions, known for its punishing difficulty even against the earlier gym leaders. 18 of them, in fact, waiting to be challenged by her.

But it won't do seeing as Alice knows she is stuck inside the train for a few more hours at best. Once again, she was bored.

Reading won't do, she had already read the guidelines and rules that is made exclusively for Reborn that is one of the reasons that made it all the more difficult.

So she decided to sleep for the next few hours.

Even now, her face, the right half partially covered by a blonde bang, was a sure sign of serenity. Sleeping for the remainder of the trip.

The blaring of the intercom jerked anyone still asleep awake. "Attention!"

Alice cracked open her eyes groggily, wiping her eyes, she tried to get the drowsiness away in vain.

"We are approaching our last destination, Reborn City. Please mind your belongings, we are not responsible for any missing contents of your belonging. Thank you and have a nice day!"

If anyone hadn't been awake now, they sure do now. Sighing, Alice made sure to sling her bag across her shoulder once more and saw that everyone around her was slowly coming back to reality as well.

Outside the window, she saw a sprawling desert, and if she is correct, she saw a mountain in the distance, snowy one. Most of all, looking toward the front of the train, she saw an imposing black wall, which in her opinion was made to stonewall the harsh desert region against that particular part of the region.

"Reborn City..." She whispered.

As the train started to pull into the station, she couldn't help but smile knowing that her next journey starts now.

As Alice walked out of the bullet train alongside the other passengers, she took the first look at the station.

The station was...not quite what she expected. It was quite massive, yes, but it was also in a state of complete disrepair. She swore she saw the occasional cracks too running along the wall. For some reason, the wall is painted a dreary black as well.

The advertisement warned her of this, disrepair and hostility awaits any tourist whose destination is Reborn City. Without a doubt, that is an understatement.

Ultimately, her purpose here is not to judge the interior decoration of the Reborn region. Her purpose here is to defeat the champion like usual, at the very least gain victory over the 18 gym leaders if that isn't possible.

As she mused to herself, a hand clamped itself onto her shoulder, surprising her.

Alice turned around frantically and slapping the offending hand off her shoulder. Taking a good look, she found the supposed assailant was an older woman in her early twenties. White shoulder length hair, similar icy blue eyes like her. Black and white blouse was her choice of clothing, as well as a black scarf. Purple jeans and black boots to top it all off.

The woman expression quickly turned apologetic "I'm...sorry about that, Alice. I thought you didn't hear me calling for you."

It was then came to Alice that this woman knew her name. "You knew me?"

The woman's expression turned into a smile. "Of course, after all, it is my job to know everything about a challenger for the Reborn League. I officially welcome you, Challenger Alice, to Reborn." The woman finished with a nod.

Alice knew then that this woman must be the Administration Manager for the Reborn League. "Alright, can I perhaps ask your name, ma'am?"

"My name is Ame." Putting her hand on her chest, she nodded. "As you probably already know, I'm the manager of the Reborn League. Did you by any chance already read the guidelines for Reborn League Challengers?"

Alice simply nodded, it simply won't do for her to walk into a wholly unique region blind.

Satisfied with that Ame, turned to her hip and patted a Pokeball. It promptly burst open, with energy coalescing into the familiar form of Absol.

"I know I might sound like a broken record knowing that you've already read the guidelines, but it would be best if I give you one more rundown, for both our sakes."

Alice found that...acceptable. It would be good to review what she had read, for in some worst case scenario...she might forget a few things. She motioned for Ame to go on with a nod.

"You must already be an accomplished trainer, but in Reborn City, where we'll go soon, wild Pokemon are kind of scarce."

Nodding, Alice remained still as Ame reviewed what she knows about the region.

"Reborn City is...Well, I'm sure you already seen it for yourself, but it's not an ideal place for many Pokemon to live."

Alice simply raise an eyebrow at that, as if that wasn't an understatement enough judging from the state of the train station.

Patting her Pokeball again, Ame motioned for Absol to return, which it did, returning into the ball in the form of red energy.

Ame's expression turned solemn. "Reborn is a region ravaged by impurity. After the last fall-out, many people abandoned the region, but that's changed since the Reborn League was re-opened."

Opening her arms wide, as if the gesture everything around, she smiled. "Many strong trainers such as yourself have been flocking to the area! If only simply to seek a better challenge. That's why you're here isn't it?"

Alice couldn't help but let out a minor smile. Many trainers with the same goal as her has been here, which simply says, it's opportunity for her to get stronger than ever.

Ame must have saw her smile if she let her arms fall limply onto her sides with a smile. "I'll take that as a yes. Alice, I've arranged for an acquaintance for you when you arrive and she'll be your guide to the city, alright?"

"Of course." Alice simply said.

"The strong, silent type, are you?"

Alice simply nodded again, deciding to grace her lips with a smile.

Ame couldn't help, but smile herself...which promptly turned to a frown. "...Um? Did you hear that?"

"Hear..." Alice then found she heard a very suspicious beeping noise, must be what Ame was talking about. "..what?"

Looking around, it seems everyone else heard it too, judging from the sudden lack of activity.

Ame looked around for the sound of said noise, then her eyes widened as she understands the implication.

Turning her head every which way, she took a deep breath and yelled. "RUN!"

Everything had gone into slow motion, the moment Ame had said that, a deafening explosion rattled the ears of all those present. What's worse, however, the blast was coming from everywhere, engulfing many of the area and so many unfortunate people scattered in the station...a blast that was also heading straight at her.

And her vision is no more.


	2. Chapter 1 : Challengers

"Hey..."

The voice...who was it? It sounded so distant.

"Hey...hey..."

Alice heard it again, more forceful this time around, but she didn't want to wake up for her body seems to be have been through the meat grinder if the headache is of any indication.

"Hey...are you awake?"

Nevertheless, she knew she had to wake up eventually. No human could stay asleep forever.

Jerking her eyelids, she forced them open, and the light of the morning assaulted her vision. This forces her to crack open her eyes ever so slowly with a groan.

She heard a sigh from somewhere beside her. "Good, you're okay."

Now that she has a more clear grasp of reality, her mind was able to register who it was that had been trying to wake her. "...Ame?" She muttered, still trying to crack open her eyelids all the while trying to force herself to stand.

A hand gently grasped her left arm. "Take it easy now. I knew you didn't escape the explosion completely unscathed."

Now that had piqued Alice's interest. "Explosion?"

A sigh was heard. "Yeah, something exploded right as I'm about to guide you out of the station."

Ame said that, and Alice remembers now with clarity and why she had woken up in such a painful state.

She can't believe it. One moment, she was about to enjoy Reborn in its raw form and then she got stuck in the middle of a terrorist attack. That was sure sign that she probably about to experience something even worse today, much to her chagrin.

In no time, she was helped back to her feet, her vision finally returned to her as she finally cracked open her eyelids. The first thing she saw, however, was the ruin of the sight that was once the police station, the doorway collapsed. Ame herself was in front of her.

"We're lucky we got out of there in time," Looking back and saw the remains of the stations, she couldn't help, but frown in sadness. "But who would-"

"Hihi!"

The overly cheerful female voice had not gone unheard by the two. Alice took one look at Ame and found that she had put her face into her hands, possibly in exasperation.

"Julia..."

She was about to ask who it was, but her questions answered itself in the form of a woman speeding down the pavement right towards them. Plus, it appears she wasn't about to stop anytime soon.

Alice wanted to get out of the way, lest she get rammed off the pavement and into the water. However, that was not necessary, as the woman somehow stopped herself a short foot away from their location.

Even after that display, she has yet to breath heavily indicating a clearly high stamina threshold. Taking a clear look at the woman, she wore some sort of yellow cheerleading uniform, skirt of the same color and of course, a pair of yellow socks and sneakers and her hair a bright green, contrasting the dreary environment. She appears to have those cheerleading pom-pom's attached to her hip.

Once again, she was broken out of her musing when Ame talked. "Julia...what did you do?" She said, her tone weary.

The woman adopted a completely offended look. "Whaaaat? I didn't do anything! Honest!" Pointing to somewhere behind her, she continued. "I was at the gym-gym and then suddenly..." She waited...before she jumped, arms spread wide. "BOOOM, so I came running! Cuz you know if things are exploding, I gotta be there to see it. It's so cool!"

Already Alice decided that this woman seemed...too hyperactive for her.

And it seems Ame herself agreed judging from the forceful sigh she had just now. "Uh huh..." Looking back at the station, she forced a business-like tone while addressing the situation now. "In any case, based on the timing, this must have been a deliberate attack."

Alice herself knew that stations don't just randomly explode. The question was, who did it?

Regardless, Ame continued. "If I remember, the explosion came from inside the train. Somebody used the train to destroy the Grandview Station."

The woman, 'Julia' decided that it was time to pipe in. "By the looks of it, they did a pretty good job!"

Alice forced a sigh which probably went unnoticed by the woman. Who would praise the handiwork of terrorists?

Fortunately, Ame agreed. "Maybe, but this isn't the time to be admiring their work. I'll have the perimeter locked down. There's a chance we could catch the perpetrator before they get away."

Alice has to agree with that course of action. If there's an attack, the culprit is bound to be nearby. Unless, of course, the bomb was time-based instead of radio detonated. Then the culprit would be long gone.

"Alice?" Said trainer took a look at Ame, who appeared apologetic in front of her. "Sorry, Alice, but I have to go. I have some business to take care off"

"It's fine." Alice decided.

Ame wanted to smile, it's been so long since she had seen someone who is...well, quiet, but in a good way. Business, comes first, however. "Fortunately, I'd already arranged for someone to meet you here. Remember the acquaintance I was talking about?"

Alice decided to grace the answer with a simple nod.

"Right, she can help you get started here."Ame continued, before pointing to somewhere down the road. "Go down to the Grand Hall; she'll be waiting for you there. If you can't find her, look for a dome-shaped building. It's just down this road, you can't miss it."

Storing that information for later use, Alice nodded again.

"And don't worry about all of this. We'll take care of it. Please just try to enjoy Reborn."

Quiet, Alice maybe, but no normal people can get rid of the bad image of near-death right away from their head. The image of that explosion was still fresh and it seems to be odd that Ame had gotten used to it quickly.

She had to shudder to that, trying to resist herself from showing such emotion in front of other people.

"Before I forget, here." Something familiar was dangling in front of her face.

It was her bag, a bit tattered, but otherwise, alright. Taking the bag right away, she slung it on her back and gave Ame a slight smile. "Thank you, Ame."

"No problem." Ame smiled. "Stay safe, alright?" Turning around, she walked carefully across the rock-littered pavement away down the road.

All was still, Alice took a deep breath and forced herself to relax a bit. She might as well go down the road and find this 'Grand Hall' that Ame was talking about.

However, Julia appeared to close to her left for comfort. "So you're Alice?"

A dreary sigh escaped her lips, this is not what she wanted right now. "Yes...yes, I am."

"Nice to meetcha, Alice! I'm Julia, captain of the cheer and pep, and all things bubbly and bright!" Julia emphasized all of that by doing a minor twirl.

Alice decided to roll her eyes at the display.

Suddenly stopping her twirling, she fixed Alice quite the gaze. "Oh, Pop Quiz! Are you going to take on the Reborn League?"

"Yeah, I am." Alice answered simply, wanting to get a move on.

"Correct! Then I'll be seeing you very soon because I'm also the Electric Gym Leader! I'll be looking forward to your challenge, so go on, get down to the Grand Hall already!"

All was suddenly still again, except from the police officers milling about the entire area outside the building.

So Alice decided to end the conversation with a simple. "Alright..." And she walked down the pavement, carefully avoiding the police officers and the littering rocks.

Once she was sure that Julia was out of earshot, she couldn't help, but mutter. "...she's a leader, huh?" Alice wanted to believe that was the case, but then she reminded herself that some of the gym leaders are...quite colorful from past experiences.

Alice decided she might as well enjoy what Reborn has to offer to forget the near death experience.

With that, she walked, Grand Hall as destination in mind.

Alice's first opinion of this city was...adequate at best and dreary at worst and she knew that this is saying something considering she lives in a metropolis.

She had never seen a city so black, so dreary, not to mention dirty. Random cracks and stone were placed all over the area and it seems the rest of the city itself is no better even as she walked along the coast. What's worse, however, was the water. It was tainted for sure even the clear sign of murkiness is to be believed. The smell itself was even coming from the water, as it had been prickling her nose for the last two hours.

Nonetheless, she trudged on anyway, avoiding some of the more...excited people when some of them were rushing to a place behind her, most likely the station to see what was going on.

She wanted to forget about it as soon as possible if she could, but the explosion was still fresh and thus she gave another involuntary shudder. A good old fashioned battle would serve her well in forgetting the event, but that, of course, won't be happening any time soon with the lack of Pokemon.

Her body was on autopilot, mindlessly dodging the crowd that nearly collided into her and neither did she knew a wall which color transition from brown to light grey to signify the change in Wards.

Three staircases was in sight, two to her left and one on her friend. Only the first and the last staircase was...guarded for some reason if the stare directed at her is any indication.

Nonetheless, she had no time to deal with them as her sights landed upon a dome-shaped building that Ame had mentioned, right on top of the second set of stairs.

"The Grand Hall..." She muttered, nodding before moving on again, the stares getting uncomfortable.

Walking up the second set of stairs, she saw a black-haired girl. Once her sight had landed upon the girl, then so did she, who turned to her with a smile. Only one thing is for sure, this girl perhaps knew her.

Her question was soon answered when the girl walked over to her and called her out. "Hey!" She immediately put up her arm and waved for emphasis. "Are you Alice?"

Alice just nodded simply, turning her gaze to the girl. "I am."

The girl seems to give an involuntary shudder, suffice to say it seems Alice knew her gaze was having an effect on her. Nonetheless, it doesn't seem she could stay upset for long if her smile was still intact.

"I'm Victoria." The girl, now Alice knew as 'Victoria', held out her hand to her. "Nice to meet you!"

She appears to be wearing a furisode-like dress with the top half being a light grey and the lower half black, yin and yang symbol adorning the right tasset of the dress. Adorning that expression of hers was a slight smile, completely out of place in the darkness that is Reborn City if what she had seen so far is true.

Nonetheless, she broke out of her musing and shook the hand that is offered to her. "Nice to meet you, Victoria. Again, I'm Alice."

Victoria shook her hand back. "Yeah, I know. Ame told me about you." Releasing her hand from the shake, she looked at Alice with a frown. "I'm sorry about the station bombing by the way. I couldn't imagine being in the middle of a terrorist attack."

"It's fine." Alice waved off, the explosion was fresh on her mind, but she'd rather not talk about it if she can.

Seeing that, perhaps Victoria wanted a change in subject immediately. "Right, Ame asked that I helped you get signed up in the Reborn System."

Considering that Ame had to deal with the fallout of a terrorist attack, it'll be even more surprising if she had managed to find a time just for her.

So Alice just nodded and Victoria took that as a sign to go on. "Don't worry, it doesn't take too long. Let's go inside and get you signed up, shall we?"

Alice promptly gestured to the door. "Lead the way."

Only now did Alkice notice Victoria gave a curious frown, not the sorrowful one directed at her earlier. "You're not much of a talker, are you?" She asked in minor curiosity.

Alice sighed, she knew that one would come...again sooner or later. "Yeah...I am. Just a habit of mine."

"You're...certainly quite interesting." Victoria had said with a nerveous chuckle, before turning around and walked forward.

Turning toward the door herself, only now did she realize that upon the top of the double door was a cross in the shape of an X. Four part of said cross are all colored differently. One was ruby, the other is sapphire, third was emerald, and the final one .

The symbol of the region that is Reborn was staring at her.

"Alice? Are you coming?"

Broken out of her musing once more, she nodded back at Victoria, who managed to get the door open. "Right, coming."

The building size when looked upon from the outside seemed...quite deceptive. For sure, Alice knew the interior seems larger, more spacious, enough for many trainers to go about unhindered.

A large plasma TV was in the middle of the entire room. To her left is a Pokemon Center with a familiar Nurse Joy manning her station, good to know somethings are unchanged. To her right, was a shop clerk manning his station, possibly selling trainer or Pokemon related goods.

And at the back of the room, was the largest counter so far coupled with a big machine in it which purpose eludes her and stairs leading upward. Manned by at least five people, which Alice and Victoria are heading towards now.

Closing in on the counter, she realized that one of the people manning the counter was one with a familiar ivory hair writing something on the counter.

"Ame?" She said to herself in surprise.

Said woman turned to her the moment she had said that and smiled. "Hey, there you two."

Once Alice and Victoria closed in enough, the latter girl was baffled on how Ame was so quick on her feet. "But I thought-"

"Looks like I managed to beat the two of you here, I guess." Ame cut her off, a hint of amusement in her voice, before a familiar frown take place. "By the way, we caught the culprit almost immediately."

That set off some warning bells in Alice's head and the scene of the explosion returned to the forefront of her mind.

"Culprit?" Victoria tilted her head, only to quickly realize the implication. "You mean the one behind the bombing?"

Ame just nodded and continued. "Yep, and he's being interrogated downstairs right now. And it seems he's not working alone."

Again, this set off some warning bells within Alice, but not that surprising. Terrorist tend to never work alone.

Ame ultimately waved it off. "But that'll be taken care of in due time. Now onto business," She finally smiled this time and put her hands on her hips. "So you're both here to get signed up for the Reborn League, right?"

"Yeah." Alice said simply.

"That's right!" Victoria almost exclaimed. "Kiki said that it would be good for my training, also if I started over completely as well. So she asked if I could get a new Pokemon too."

Little did Victoria know that Alice suddenly directed a gaze at her. It seems this girl is an experienced trainer if what Victoria herself just said is true, simply starting over from scratch like her.

Once again, her musing was halted in response to Ame speaking once more. "Normally, we reserve them strictly for newcomers to the region, but I suppose we can make an exception on Kiki's request."

Victoria sighed in relief from an invisible tension, it seems she won't be troubled by further paperwork after all. "Oh, thank you."

"However,"

But it seems Victoria was not completely in the clear yet.

"Alice will have the first choice."

Victoria was completely dumbstruck, not that was surprising. Seeing as she had been one-upped unintentionally by a newcomer. "Oh..." Her surprise once again quickly turned to a smile. "That's okay, I don't mind at all."

Ame had to smile on that, mature people are rare around these parts. Directing her sight at Alice, she pushed the button on the counter and the desk panel retracted.

"C'mon, Alice," Ame gestured to the stair leading upward. "Let's get you a starter, shall we?"

And the girl herself for one couldn't wait. It's time to meet her first Pokemon. "Right."

With a smile on her face, she walked inside the now open counter and walked upstairs, Ame trailing close behind.

Following the path upstairs until she was on the second floor, she took a momentary glance at the second floor and there seems to be three long tables. One was colored green, second was red, and the third is blue. Each and everyone of those table had Pokemon stacked neatly in a row.

If she were to wager a guess, the red signify typing of the starter.

"What are you doing, Alice?"

Realizing that Ame was behind her, she moved forward and turned to the young woman. "Sorry, I tend to think too much."

"I noticed." Ame said in possible amusement. "Well anyway, These Pokemon are all set aside for new trainers to choose from. Now I know, you're not exactly new, but you're still new in a way, at least to the region standard."

Alice nodded, there's no excusing her being a newcomer. A baby in another term, but she saw that as an opportunity to learn and get stronger.

Seeing that, Ame gesture to the table. "The tables go from top to bottom in order of Grass, Fire, Water, and the Pokemon are arranged from left to right in the order they are discovered. Currently, we only have six, from Kanto all the way to Kalos."

That was...at least to Alice, unexpected. Little did she know about this kind of system. Normally, only three starters are available and are unique only to that region, but it seems Reborn is an exception.

"Go ahead, and take any one you like. Don't worry, take as much time as you need."

Knowing when opportunity knocks, Alice knew which one she wanted. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Walking to the third table, the blue one, she set her sight on the farthest most one. In no time, she looked down at the Pokeball. Gingerly, she reached out and wrapped her fingers around it. It was cool to the touch and a bit dusty, but otherwise fine.

It's time to meet her new partner for Reborn region.

"Froakie, it's time!" And she threw the ball upward.

The ball snapped open and white energy shot out to coalesce into the form of a frog. The white energy fades away as quickly as it came to reveal a light blue frog-like Pokemon with white frubbles acting like a scarf.

Dropping down onto the floor, Froakie took a look at it's surrounding and realized that he was still inside the room where he and numerous others have waited a long time for someone to arrive and take them onto a journey. Yes, it is pretty much still the same area, only except this time it knew there was a slight difference, for there was a blonde girl standing in front of it.

Looking the Froakie all over, it seems that it was quite healthy, no matter how you put it. Dark and dreary Reborn maybe, but the Administration knew how to take care of Pokemon.

Nonetheless, she had a Pokemon to greet. Crouching down, the Froakie as expected looked up to her in either apprehension or wonder, or perhaps both. "Hello, Froakie. I'm Alice, perhaps you would be interested in a journey with me?"

Froakie looked at the trainer all over, tilting it's head every now and then as he tried to gauge if she as honest as they come. It's not stupid enough to just follow any trainer it sees, not all of them are good ones.

Alice simply stayed silent the whole time Froakie was inspecting her. She couldn't blame it really, any Pokemon would be instinctively be alert to anyone they have yet to know. While she had another choice of Pokemon in case Froakie didn't want anything to do with her, she'd rather stick with it if she can.

"Froakie?"

Looking at the frog again, she saw that it was waving its forelegs at her to get at her attention which it did. "What is it?"

Putting it's right foreleg on it's chest, she had to smile a bit when it tried to puff its chest and held it's up high. Alice had to commend it's courage thought.

Looking at her with resolute eyes, it nodded. Froakie knew for all it's prying, it might not even fully know what this girl's personality is. The only way it may know is by spending time with her and who knows, perhaps getting some excitement along the way on their journey, it was getting boring here. Worse comes to worst, it'll just escape if Alice proves herself to be an abusive trainer.

Alice was silent, leaving Froakie in that state for a bit of a long while which it began to get concerned over. "Fro?"

Shaking her head, Alice smiled down at Froakie. "Sorry, I was thinking that perhaps you would like a nickname?"

That's a good question, but one that didn't take long for Froakie to mull over. "Fro! Kie, Froakie!"

The response leave Alice clueless. She knew there was some people who could get the gist of what their Pokemon was saying, but she is not one of them. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Froakie had to slap a leg onto it's face, how could it forget that not all human can understand it. For the sake of simplicity, it shook its head and pointed at her then back at itself.

Alice understood what it want immediately. "So it's up to me?" The Froakie nodded. "Then I guess we won't be needing a nickname. Welcome to the team, Froakie. I'm Alice, I hope we can get stronger together."

This girl, 'Alice' smiled down on it. Perhaps she is not as abusive as it thinks? The least Froakie could do is give a smile back at her.

Nodding, she pulled out the same Pokeball that had been it's home for a while and returned it inside with a beam of red light. "Rest now, I'll call you when I need your help."

The ball simply wiggled in response.

Looking at Ame, it seems she had seen the entire display if the smile she was sporting was any indication. Alice couldn't help, but blush that way, but it simply won't do for her to simply take a ball and just leave, at the very least, she could notify the occupant that she would be taking it on a journey as her wingman.

Walking over back to her, Ame just had to ask. "Settled with Froakie?" Alice nodded simply again, which seemed to Ame looked like their business is done here. "Alright. Let's not keep Victoria waiting."

Alice nodded, and followed Ame back down the stairs.

Back downstairs, Victoria was still waiting on the other side of the counter. When she saw both her and Ame had returned, she couldn't help, but getting a little bit excited.

Once Alice was within arm's reach, Victoria asked. "Which one did you pick, Alice?"

Alice immediately raised an eyebrow at that. Did she want to scout out her team?

Seeing the look Alice gave her, Victoria tried to disarm the situation and waved her hand frantically. "No, no, it's not what you think. Don't worry, I won't pick a specific Pokemon just to beat you, that's just silly. Besides, I already know which one I want anyway."

Sighing, Alice just had to content herself with that for now. "Alright, that's fine."

Ame took that as her cue to pipe in. "Victoria." Getting the girl's attention, the manager gestured to the stairs. "Shall we?"

"Alright, wait here, okay, Alice?" Victoria smiled as she walked toward's Ame.

Both soon disappeared upstairs, leaving her to contend with herself for the time being. Leaning against the counter, she began thinking of the best way to train her Pokemon here.

Seems Reborn prides itself for it's difficult gym leaders, she knew she couldn't be tardy. A more tight schedule is needed if she are to raise some strong team.

"Heyyyy," Someone said.

Not to mention she needed to think it through, she couldn't just capture some random Pokemon. They have to be able to pull their own weight in battle.

"Helloooo." The voice said again, this time finally caught her attention.

"Hmmm?" Looking upward from her musing, she found that there's someone in front of her.

And he was...odd to say the least.

This young man seems to have...strangely enough, applied mascara on his one visible eye, the other is concealed underneath the massive purple bang. His ponytail was perhaps quite long for a man, not to mention he had an accessory in the form of an earring. Wearing a purple, unzipped jacket, purple jeans and boots, he top it all off with...a fishnet vest underneath which means it he had his chest bared for others to see.

She couldn't help, but blush at this utter lack of shame the young man had displayed so far.

A hand was waving right in front of her face. "Hello? Anybody home?"

Once again, her musing managed to make her stand still and look like a sore thumb. "Sorry about that."

The boy had to...'giggle' at that. "You're cute."

That one took awhile for Alice to register. "What?"

"What? Me?" Cain put his hand onto his exposed chest dramatically. "Haha, no, I didn't say anything."

Alice decided that...yes, perhaps this young man is quite odd. He did just hit on her.

She decided that that man wanted something from her. "Was there something you need?"

"Ah yeah, about that. Was Ame just here?"

"She was, before heading upstairs with another challenger."

"Ohhh, so she's with someone else. 'Kay ̴"

Why is it that last sentence caused Alice to shudder for a bit?

It seems the young man didn't notice it, however. "My name's Cain by the way, what's yours?"

The young man called 'Cain' held his hand out to her. Despite seemingly an oddball, Alice felt that he is quite a decent guy...if a bit creepy.

Taking his hand and shaking it, she replied to that with her own name. "It's Alice."

"Alice? Pretty name." Cain couldn't help, but grin.

Alice knew that he didn't just hit on her again, did he?

Letting go of each other's hand, Cain analyzed her. Again she shuddered as she felt his eyes somehow wander to places that it shouldn't. She decided to bear with it, she's technically an adult after all.

But Cain's inspection didn't last long as his eyes landed on one particular object. "So by the looks of it, you just got your first Pokemon. Are you going to challenge the league?"

Glad for the change in subject, Alice nodded, it's not like she'll lose anything by telling someone of her intention. "I am. Should I assume you're the same?"

"Weeeell." Cain rubbed the back of head as he fidget. "I'm not exactly a new trainer, but I- well, I had to leave everything behind due to some...circumstances. Yeah, thought, I'm trying my luck on the league. Who knows, perhaps I'll win?"

Again, she saw another opportunity. Here, in front of her is a second trainer who left behind his Pokemon and decided to start anew. Alice felt that she would be seeing him often soon enough.

Thought what did he mean by 'circumstances' just now?

"Alice?"

Shaking her head, she knew it's not her place to question him. Everyone has their privacy after all.

"What is it?"

"Sooo, what do you say to a battle?" Cain then took out a Pokeball from behind his back.

An offer for battle so soon after starting out fresh in a remote region is not unheard of. It would be unbecoming if she are to decline a challenge in the eyes of people. But it's not like she had any reason to decline, she is here for the challenge after all.

Taking out her own Pokeball from her belt, she nodded and stepped back to create some space between them.

Cain had to grin. "In that case, Nidoran, your turn!" And he threw his Pokeball, revealing the familiar form of the male Poison Pin Pokemon.

"Male Nidoran..." Luckily, Alice had an answer for that, pulling her right arm back, she threw the ball. "Froakie, it's time!"

Out of it came, her first Pokemon Froakie, letting out a cry as she is freed from it's home. Dropping onto the floor, the Froakie took a look around and instantly realized that she is perhaps about to face off against the opposing Nidoran.

This would be her first real battle against an opponent, and it will not disappoint. Taking a stance similar to one call kata, one foreleg stretched forward and one backward she glanced at her trainer and nodded.

Meanwhile, this would be Alice's first real battle in Reborn. She must make sure to remain cautious at all times as the trainers here are by no means novices. Defeat is not an option, only victory is.

Froakie's Protean would help...albeit only in the future, right now, it won't. After all, it knows only Pound and Growl, both Normal-type moves.

Before the battle could start off, Cain waved at her. "How about this, Alice? Seeing as I have only one Pokemon now, one-on-one, sounds good?"

Alice nodded, it's not like she had any other Pokemon either for now.

With that, she decided she would be the first to kick things off. "Froakie! Approach and evade!"

"Oh, like to start off first, are we? Well, okay ̴ In that case, Nidoran, you use Leer."

"Jump Pound!"

Froakie jumped up, intending to bring it's foreleg down onto the head of the male Nidoran. Unfortunately, the Leer took effect before she could reach her target, causing her to grit her teeth at the creepy stare.

"Nidoran, now Scratch!" Cain commanded as well.

This would prove to be a costly mistake for Froakie as it left her open, allowing Nidoran to jump up and scratched her across her chest and was sent flying. Fortunately, she had enough strength to right herself in mid-air and landed on it's legs.

"Pound, Froakie."

"Scratch, Nidoran!"

Both Pokemon clashed in the middle, their eyes meeting as they tried to overpower the other in a contest of strength. Unfortunately, they are evenly matched.

Cain would not let an opportunity waste. "Nidoran ̴ It's time for another Leer."

Cain quickly proves himself that he is indeed, no novice. A quick use of both Scratch then Leer during the clash seems to prove that much.

But Alice has no intention to lose either. "Froakie, onto your back!"

Cain didn't know what to make of that, but Froakie does.

Grabbing onto one of Nidoran's foreleg, she brought him along with her as she fell onto her back.

"Now, throw her off then Pound." Alice finished.

Cain only understood too late what it meant.

Froakie threw the Nidoran off her, this allows her to get back up in time to follow her next command.

"Nidoran, try to recover in mid-air!"

That was easier said than done, however. As it is mainly a quadruped Pokemon, all it did manage was flailing it's leg frantically trying to recover its bearing while upside down. Then a shadow came across it's vision.

It was Froakie, both arms pulled back above it's head and joined together. "Hammerfist Pound!"

And she brought both arms downward, right onto Nidoran's head. The intended effect came in the form of Nidoran falling onto the floor hard.

Froakie landed, shaking it's right foreleg, that was quite painful, not used with close-combat. Not to mention, Nidoran's scale is quite prickly. She was lucky he was upside down, this allows her to strike his chin instead of his horn.

As expected, one blow wouldn't be able to finish off the Nidoran. It get up shakingly, the blow to the head hurt, gravity didn't help, but it won't go down that easy.

"Good job holding on, Nidoran!" Cain praised, then declared. "Now Scratch again!"

"Pound!"

Despite being weakened, with combination of Froakie's species weaker strength and Nidoran greater strength, this allows them to still clash evenly.

"Again, Scratch, Nidoran, show your strength!"

"Pound!"

They clashed forelegs, glaring at one another's eyes before pulling back for another try.

Alice knew this isn't going anywhere, it's time to get a bit creative. "Frubbles, now!"

"Scra- wait, what?" Cain questioned, but his questions are soon answered..

Indeed, Nidoran was running straight at Froakie, or rather, at something white and fluffy. He blundered straight onto it and came out of it with one too many of those fluffy things sticking onto it. One was in his paw, causing him to lose balance and fall onto it's side.

Not one to waste opportunity, Alice took this as a chance for an offensive. "Growl, Froakie!"

Intending to follow her trainer's command, she growled. The sound reached the Nidoran and true enough, it appeared hesitant, losing it's determination to fight at the moment.

It was time to finish this. Pulling her right hand into a fist, she commanded. "Now, Froakie, finish this!"

Cain knew of frubbles, how sticky they are, no way for Nidoran to get rid of it in time. It seems he will lose this one.

Pulling it's right arm back, she dashed forward with speed befitting the Froakie species and struck Nidoran straight across the face. Normally, Froakie wouldn't be able to send someone like Nidoran flying, but the earlier Growl took an effect.

And thus it was sent flying and landed right on Cain's feet. Nidoran didn't get back up.

Cain knew when he lost, and he clapped his hand. "Cute and talented!" he spoke, with a grin she'd rather not interpret.

Returning both of their respective Pokemon onto their Pokeball, he fixed Alice a smile, a genuine one this time. "Very nice, you certainly know your stuff."

Alice took that as a compliment and gave him a smile in return. "Thank you."

Nodding, he jerked his thumbs to his left. "C'mon, let's get our Pokemon healed up, shall we? There's a built-in center right over there."

Alice wouldn't be able to say no, even if she wanted to. The most fundamental thing about trainer is, of course, make sure that your team remains healthy after a battle. Being caught off guard is unbecoming.

"Agreed." She said with a nod, gesturing for Cain to take the lead, even if she knew the way already.


	3. Chapter 2 : Second Rival

It doesn't take them long at all to find the center with the Nurse Joy manning the station.

Seeing the two trainers who approached her, she interpret that they might be the cause of the earlier commotion, not that battle was forbidden here, it's wide enough to do so.

Nonetheless, she greeted them with a smile. "Welcome! Would you two like to rest your Pokemon?"

"Certainly." Alice said, handing over a Pokeball.

"Oh, of course." Cain himself said, handing over his own Pokeball with a tone little too jovial she noted.

"Ok, I'll take both of your Pokemon for a second." Taking both Pokeballs like she said, she inserted them into one of the six slots on the white machine to her left.

A push of a button later and both Pokeballs glowed for a bit. As most trainers knew by now, the process doesn't take long, the beauty of technology. Indeed, the Pokeball all stopped glowing and Joy took both of them out of the indent.

"Here you go," She put both Pokeballs onto the counter. "We hope to see you two again!" The Nurse Joy bowing.

Taking the Pokeball that she was sure to contain Froakie, she couldn't help, but smile. It had done a good job in the last battle, and she would expect great things from it. But before that can happen, a training is in order.

"Alice..."

And of course, catching some other Pokemon as well as making sure that her team covers each other weaknesses too.

"Hey, Alice! Hello!?"

"Hmmm?" She stared at Cain. "What is it?"

He simply pointed to her right. She followed his finger and found Victoria as well as Ame was staring at her.

As cold as she was, she couldn't help, but blush at that shameful display. "...right, sorry about that." She said in a less than amused tone.

"Sorry ̴" Cain said in a sing-song tone, rubbing the back of his head. "I kinda stole Alice right there."

Ame sighed, but smiled anyway. "Cain," She took her gaze off Alice and toward the purple-outfitted young man. "I certainly forgot you were coming by."

Once again, Alice shuddered, almost certain that Cain was adopting another one of the lecherous grin. "It's okayyyy. When you guys were gone, I met Alice and had some fun ̴ "

Ame suddenly remained still. Victoria, however, had a furious blush across her cheek. " 'Had some fun'? I...didn't know you were like that, Alice..."

Alice herself blushed for the second time this day, tried in vain to maintain her composure. "It's not like that..." She whispered.

Seeing the sudden tension in the atmosphere, Cain quickly stepped in waving his hand frantically. "What? Haha, no, we just had a battle, really. Nothing more!"

As quickly as her blush came, it was gone, replaced with the kind of excitement trainers had upon an upcoming battle. "Oh! That does sound fun! I wanna test out my new Pokemon, too." Looking expectantly at Alice, she smiled. "C'mon, Alice, up for one more?"

Alice herself simply raised an eyebrow at that. Another offer of battle, one after another?

Ame now decided it would be the time to break off from her silence. "Alright. Cain, I'll get you registered as a challenger while they do that. Come with me!"

"Oooh, yes, master ̴" Cain said, that once again, Alice rather not interpret.

"Master?" Ame herself questioned.

"Nothing ̴" Cain quickly countered, maintaining his grin.

With a sigh, Ame rubbed her head in an effort to calm down. "Uh huh...c'mon now."

Alice and Victoria couldn't help, but stare at the two retreating figure now heading for the counter.

"...he's...certainly interesting." Alice couldn't help, but say.

"Yeah, he is." Victoria agreed, having met with him a few times after all. But now was not the time to dwell on such things. "Well, shall we?"

Two battles in a row. Certainly unexpected, but not completely unwelcome either. Challenge was her calling after all.

Pulling out a familiar Pokeball, she nodded her consent. "Of course. If you would, Victoria."

She nodded and pulled out a Pokeball, it seems she finally managed to get her own Pokemon as well. Reeling her arm back, she threw it. "Tepig, yours now!"

Out came a Tepig, the Fire Pig Pokemon. One of the Unovan Starters, known for their use of brute force.

"Tepig..." Alice muttered, already familiar with the Pokemon evolutionary line.

"Alice?"

Shaking her head a bit, she resolutely focused her gaze onward and threw her own ball. "Froakie, it's time!" Out came a familiar Froakie that had led her to victory against Cain.

Dropping down onto the floor, the Froakie found itself with a new opponent. Not one to let his guard down, Froakie adopted his battle stance, ready for her trainer to give her direction. The Tepig soon adopted its own stance as well.

All was silent as both Pokemon awaits the command of their respective trainers.

"Approach, Froakie! Zigzag pattern!" Alice commanded and her Pokemon obeyed.

The Froakie quickly zipped across the battlefield in a zigzag pattern like her trainer commanded, her earlier battle did nothing to slow her down whatsoever. Because of that the foe Tepig had trouble following the blur that is Froakie. The frog ninja-like speed are to be commended, indeed.

But Victoria is not one without tricks either. "Quick, Tail Whip. Slow him down!"

A command is made, and Tepig wagged its tail cutely just like she said. Froakie groaned as the display causes her to hesitate for the briefest moment, she is starting to hate that. That was just too cute to be ignored and her movement became sluggish as she tried to bite down a 'coo'.

And that was the opening Victoria needed. "Alright, Tackle!" The Tepig snorted, eyesight following the Froakie closely and charged at her direction.

Froakie cursed to itself as it let it's guard down, but that is simply the side effect of Growl. Continuing to approach the Tepig, it begins to reel it's foreleg back in preparation for a Pound.

Her trainer had other ideas, however. "Wait! Keep going."

Froakie took a glance at her trainer questioningly, but obeyed nonetheless

Victoria herself was dumbfounded, usually at this point most trainers order their Pokemon to either retaliate or defend. Instead, Alice didn't command Froakie to do anything.

Just as the two Pokemon starting to close in, only one would make it out of the clash intact.

"Jump forward!" Alice commanded, this calls for more momentum otherwise Froakie would lose in a strength contest against a Tepig.

Froakie did so. In one swift movement, Froakie planted both legs firmly onto the floor and like springboard, launched herself at the Tepig.

The Tepig was mildly surprised by this, but nonetheless, continued to charge.

Head and foreleg met, clashing in an effort to overpower the other.

"C'mon Tepig, don't let her overpower you!" Victoria encouraged, but a few insurances are in order. "Tail Whip!"

"Parry!"

Froakie grinned, and slinked aside, causing the Tepig to stumble onto the place where she had been. The Tail Whip was cut short.

"Pound now!"

"Tepig, quick, turn around!"

Unfortunately, Tepig is not exactly a quick Pokemon species. Froakie, however, is. Tepig can only so much as make a glance before he was struck in the back of the head, causing him to flinch.

Not one to waste this momentum, Alice took the initiative. "Again, Pound!"

Tepig was not dumb, however, and neither is his trainer. "Slam your side to her!"

Froakie 'oofed' as air was pushed out of her lungs as the Tepig slammed the side of his body onto her. She was struck and was sent flying.

Froakie quickly recovered in mid-air, it had to be careful, Froakie is not known for their strength and durability after all.

Alice herself realizes this and made preparation to fix that. "Growl!"

And Froakie growled with the cutest noise it can muster, causing the Tepig to appear hesitant, exactly like she wanted.

"Now, Tackle/Pound!" Alice and Victoria commanded simultaneously.

Both Pokemon jumped onto the fray and struck each other, ultimately both came out unharmed from the clash.

"Once more, Froakie!" The frog quickly jumped towards Tepig at her command, arm reeled back.

Victoria would have none of that now. "Tail Whip!"

Quickly, Tepig whipped its tail cutely again. The Froakie appear once more to be hesitant in the middle of it's jump.

"Now, Tackle!"

Tepig snorted and charged. The hesitation would cost Froakie.

"Slide around him!"

"Wha-" Victoria intelligently said.

In the middle of it's low altitude jump, it quickly planted it's right leg and braked. This one would be close. The Tepig was within arm's reach now, and in that very instant, she slid aside and around the Tepig in a perfect execution of 180 degree slide.

But that minor hesitation still costed Froakie, the pig Pokemon had managed to graze it's sides just as it managed to strike the back of it's head again.

This cause both Pokemon to stumble and crashed onto the opposing site of the arena. Froakie near Victoria and Tepig near Alice.

Both Pokemon shakily got up, the repeated Pound and Tackle is starting to show, they couldn't even manage more than a few shaky steps forward.

Alice looked at Victoria, and as expected, she did as well. The battle is nearing it's end.

"Froakie, Pound!" Alice commanded, pointing at the Tepig.

Victoria held her right arm upward. "Tepig, Tackle! Don't let him get away!"

Again, both Pokemon charged at one another, intending to send their foe into the realm of sleep.

Meanwhile, Victoria is ready, already Froakie did that twice, either parrying or stepping aside to avoid Tepig's blows. It seems Alice knows that Tepig is not one for agility and more for strength then decided to compensate Froakie's weaker strength with a bit of creativity. Victoria herself knew that Tepig possibly couldn't dodge well to save it's life so she decided to use brute force all the way.

This time she is ready, the question is, left or right, which direction will Froakie take? Either way is fine, Tepig can still slam his sides onto the Froakie.

She watched closely on the Froakie's movement, both Pokemon are once again within arm's reach, ready to pound/tackle the other.

Victoria couldn't see, Alice's smile. "Slide underneath!"

Again, Victoria couldn't process that fast enough to interpret it's meaning. But she didn't have to.

Froakie slid, it's hind leg forward. The Tepig was too surprised to realize that it was sent flying head over heels by a sliding Froakie, it's own momentum worked against it.

"Tepig!" Victoria called out frantically.

Alice pulled one hand onto a fist. "Finish this, Froakie!"

She doesn't need to be told twice, quickly rolling out from the slide, she turned and jumped toward the still flying Tepig. Both forelegs are now held up above it's head in preparation for a hammerfist Pound.

Tepig wished it could learn Ember right now. At least that way, it could deter the Froakie with an improvised Flame Wheel.

The fists came down onto the center mass of the Tepig and gravity did the rest, causing the Tepig to fall onto the floor upside down.

"Tepig! Can you get up!?" Victoria called out, she hoped it could.

Both trainers waited for Tepig to make a reaction, anything to indicate that it's still battle-ready. None came whatsoever within the next ten seconds.

Tepig had been defeated.

Victoria slumped a bit at the results. "Guess I lost."

Froakie fell down onto her backside in relief, two battle in a row is tiresome, even if it is healed in-between that.

Froakie glanced at her trainer. "Fro...kie?" She said with a knowing smile, she wanted to know what's her verdict after two battles in a row.

Alice didn't know what she said, but she seems to be looking for her approval. And approval she decided to give, after all, that was another superb performance for a new Pokemon.

She smiled and nodded her thanks. Froakie closed it's eyes, glad to she could satisfy her trainer. Perhaps this journey with her won't be so bad after all.

Deciding that Froakie needed some more rest, she pulled our her Pokeball. "Rest now, Froakie." And she returned Froakie into it.

Once she pocketed her Pokeball, she saw Victoria had done the same to her Tepig. "You did your best, we simply have to train more." Then she stared at Alice.

It was a stare of astonishment, which honestly starting to get uncomfortable. A stare is still a stare. "You're not a normal trainer, are you?"

If she thinks she's someone special, then Victoria had another thing coming. "No, I'm no different from any trainer." Alice countered.

It was then Alice saw Cain had returned and are rounding the corner of the Pokemon Center's counter.

"Heyyy, guys!"

"Cain?" Victoria turned around and sure enough, the young man was behind her. "Are you done?"

"Yep. By the way," Cain jerked his thumb to his right. "Ame is waiting for you guys when you're done."

"Thanks for the heads up, we're just finishing up here anyway."

"No prob. Well, I'm gonna hit the road. See ya ̴ " He winked, then he turned around, heading toward the exit.

Victoria turned back to Alice with a knowing smile on her face. "Well, there we go. Let's go get registered for the League!"

Alice nodded with a small smile, she herself couldn't wait for this part.

Victoria again took the lead while Alice trailed behind her with a sedated pace. Once again, they found themselves at the main counter of the Grand Hall with Ame waiting for them.

Victoria took the first step forward. "Sorry to keep you waiting, we just had a battle."

Ame nodded. "No worries. I took that time to take care of the documentation while you two were finishing."

Alice approved, Ame really does know her stuff.

Victoria couldn't help, but smile in excitement. "Really?"

The young manager nodded again. "Really. So then, with that, all that's left is to give you two these." Reaching down somewhere, Ame pulled out two familiar devices. "Firstly, a Pokedex. You know the drill here." She put both on the counter for taking.

Oh, Alice knows, but decided a reminder here and there wouldn't hurt. It's not like she can memorize every single entry in the Pokedex.

Victoria and Alice took their respective Pokedex. Victoria pocketed it inside her furisode-like dress while Alice put it inside her bag.

"And secondly," Ame held up a finger, gesturing them to wait while she reached down again, out came two more familiar devices. "The PokeGear, Reborn made. Unlike Johto and Kanto's Pokegear, this device comes with some extra features, but I'd like to go through everything again just in case."

Again, Alice nodded, a few reminders won't hurt from time to time.

"That's alright, I think we can understand that." Victoria agreed.

Ame nodded, before continuing with her explanation. "The Reborn made Pokegear allows you to, like the original device, check the map, and the extra feature comes from being able to listen to music as well as to connect yourself to the internet if you wanted to 'chat with someone from out of the region and trade with them'. There maybe other apps to find, and yes, it could support those as well. However, some of those apps can only be supported by our Reborn made PokeGear."

Without a doubt, Alice knew this would come in useful. The original PokeGear could hardly support music and internet connection. Reborn unusually went out of their way to equip each challengers with this level of equipment. But she won't argue, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth per say.

Victoria took the device gingerly, and Alice did the same. This one she should be more careful, Pokedex are made with hardened materials because not every Pokemon are exactly in a cooperative mood, this one is not.

After putting them away, Ame smiled at the two. "And you two are all set! Is there any other question?"

Alice immediately shook her head.

"Well, no, not at this time, anyway." Victoria answered.

"Alright, then I'm going to go check on the interrogation with the bombing. Good luck to the both of you."

"Thank you so much, Ame. Good luck!" Victoria said, in turn also bowing to her.

Alice simply nodded her thanks.

Ame took that as a cue to gave them both a smile before walking toward the other set of stairs possibly leading to the basement.

...did she just say 'interrogation'?

Alice couldn't explore that line of thought further because Victoria spoke. "Alright, I should get going as well. I need to tell Kiki I'm on my way."

Alice gave Victoria a look that simply says 'Who's Kiki?'

"Kiki? She's my teacher, you see. I'm an apprentice at Apophyll Academy. It's in the Azurine Region of Reborn to the southwest of here. I'm sure they'd love to have you if you are even in the area. But," "She's also the Reborn Fighting-type leader, I'm sure you'll have to go there eventually."

Another gym leader location revealed and Alice immediately stored that information into her head. "I'll keep that in mind."

"By the way," Jamming her hand onto her dress, she drew something towards Alice. "Here, to get you started."

On the palm of her hand, Victoria presented to Alice five shrunk empty Pokeballs ready for use.

Alice couldn't help, but feel apprehensive at this. "Are you sure?"

"Oh don't worry, it's fine." Victoria waved off. "I still have many more from my Academy days. Anyway, I don't think you have one yet. So please, take them."

If Victoria says it's okay, then perhaps it wouldn't be polite to decline her. She took the five Pokeballs and put them inside her bag for later use. "Thank you."

Victoria nodded. "I know that everyone says that Pokemon are rare in the city...but you can find them still. They just like to stay hidden. So look around for a bit, I'm sure you'll manage."

Alice stored that information for later use, it might prove handy if she wanted to find some rare Pokemon.

"So to get started, you should look around and get a crew started and then head over to the Peridot Ward gym. It's the big yellow building, a power plant, I'm sure you can find it."

Again, Alice nodded, and took Victoria's first advice to heart, get a proper team started first before tackling the gym.

"That's all there is to it. Good luck, Alice, may the best challenger win." Victoria held out her hand again.

Alice took the hand and shook it again as well. "Of course."

Releasing their respective hands, Victoria gave Alice a bow. "I'll see you around!" She soon was heading for the double door leading out of the building, no doubt about to begin the league challenge.

Alice didn't have anymore purpose here either, besides coming back time to time to possibly buy some items and heal her Pokemon. With that, she decided to follow Victoria's example and head for the door.

As she neared the door, she took a deep breath, this time, her journey through Reborn is about to properly start.

Pushing the door open, she stepped out into Reborn City.

Deep inside the building that is the Grand Hall, a special section of the basement existed, kept secret from the public.

Ame was in such a special section of the Grand Hall, descending down the stairs walking through the dark hallway with purpose. Rounding around the corner, she saw a familiar entrance guarded by a cop in blue.

The police officer saw that manager of the Reborn League returned, but said no further word otherwise. Turning around another corner of the wall, she saw a familiar window, a one-way window, with an intercom built into it.

Anyone who had been here wouldn't be surprised of the aesthetic decoration, but those who haven't would be in for a rude surprise.

Ame eyed the familiar interrogation room as she approached the intercom. Inside, much to her relief, the prisoner was still there two cops standing right behind him. Metal chair was what she had him bound to with metal shackles for extra precaution. She almost feared that the prisoner would pull off a disappearing trick the moment she took her eyes off him, and so she wanted all necessary precaution.

She had delayed this long enough already, it's time to get back on track less the lack of information would put more civilians into danger. And she for one, doesn't want that.

Grabbing the mic, she stared hard into the room with an expression completely unlike that she had shown toward the three challengers upstairs. "Please, continue."

An inspector, who she was sure hadn't been there previously, stepped out from the left side of the room not seen from the window, a Torkoal following closely. And the smile he was sporting was certainly not a good one.

The inspector took a sideway glance at the window and nodded. "Right."

Walking up straight to the prisoner on the other side of the table, he lay both hands onto it and spoke. "So where are we...?" The inspector mused, before mock realizing the circumstances. "Ah, right, you were just about to tell me about your little friends, perhaps?"

However, the culprit could see through the deceit and would have none of it. "I'm not gonna talk. I ain't gonna say a word to you, cop!"

The inspector has yet to change his smile even from such declaration. "Mm...about that. Would you like me to introduce you to another friend of mine?"

"Joy..." The culprit in black muttered.

If the inspector heard him, he hadn't said a word, merely turning toward the Torkoal who had been eyeing the prisoner. "Let me introduce you to my friend, Torkoal."

The Torkoal who had been immobile, staring at the prisoner, now moving to the side of the table towards the prisoner even as the inspector continued. "Now my buddy Torkoal here...he isn't the most patient fella. And when people keep him waiting, he tends to..." The prisoner swore that he saw the inspector's grin widened just a little bit which is anything but a good sign. "Blow a bit of hot air, so to speak."

Once again, the inspector put both hands on the table and leaned against them as he spoke the next few sentences with a grave tone. "Which brings me to my second point. You know what kind of chair you're strapped in, right?"

The prisoner was a bit...dumbfounded at this. What is this inspector playing at? "What?"

"Just answer the question."

The prisoner thought about it, then only now did he realize what he was sitting on. All the excitement made sure he forgot about everything else besides the danger within his immediate line of sight.

"It's, uh, metal?"

The inspector once again, smiled. "You're not completely dumb. Good."

The prisoner didn't know that was meant to be an insult or not. Probably more on the former.

"So," He continued, now gesturing towards the Torkoal who is standing right beside the prisoner now. "Torkoal here, gets a little fired up, right? When the people don't answer. And I think even you can figure out what happens to metal when it gets heated up."

The prisoner then finally understand the implication as his eyes widened too in response. How had he not caught up on it a few seconds ago was beyond him. Perhaps it was excitement muddling his mind from thinking clearly?

Not to mention the Torkoal was right beside him. A little bit too close for comfort.

These two things combined made sure he struggled against his binding, with very little results, however.

The inspector crossed his arm now and stared down hard. "So really, the choice is yours, friend. Tell us about your teammates, or you'll be in the hot seat, literally."

As if to emphasize, the Torkoal blew off a bit of steam toward the prisoner, literally. This made sure the already uncomfortable prisoner to sweat profusely, both from the heat and nervousness. He was now bathed in his own sweat.

And he really wanted to go home now.

But the inspector will have none of that. "I'll ask again. Who are you working with?"

Even in the face of such danger, the culprit maintained his code of silence and mustered every bit of courage remained to glare at the inspector. "I'm...not gonna talk...I swore!"

That was perhaps the wrong thing to say. While the inspector love getting under the skin of prisoners to get what he wants, every man and woman has a limit to their patience.

"Mmhmm...Torkoal?" Turning his gaze toward the Torkoal, who fixed him with a similar one, he spoke rather casually. "How do you feel about that, buddy?"

The Torkoal took that as a cue to do what it do best. Making sure prisoners sing like a bird.

And what comes next, was a scream that would be ingrained into the foremost of their mind.

 **Author Note :**

And there we are folks, Cain and Victoria. I honestly find Cain to be one of the most personable person around in Reborn, and one of the best rivals out there, even if he is not mainstream. It's a shame what happens to him in the latest episode in Pokemon Reborn though. Sorry, no spoilers there, if you want to know, then please play the game and pay some respect to this fic's inspiration :)

Anyway, that's it for now. Happy reading!


	4. Chapter 3 : City of Darkness

Alice stepped out of a building, only to be greeted with light so blinding she was forced to cover her eyes. Once she managed to get most of the sunlight out of her eyes, she stole a quick glance at the sun's position in order to determine the daytime.

"So it's already noon?" Alice mused to herself.

The day is ticking away and here she was still in the area around the Grand Hall. She has no time to lose, she wanted the day to be productive, and that means at the very least capturing some Pokemon like Victoria suggested.

If what she read is true in the adds, then she would be in for one hell of a difficult battle against the gym leader. It is a tactical suicide without more than one Pokemon against their six.

That means the first order of business is to go out into around Opal and Peridot and get herself some new Pokemon. At least around three is acceptable, but she would have to look carefully because as Ame said, Pokemon in Reborn are a rare sight inside the city. She wanted to get a move on right away.

"Snubbul!"

Except, the only problem is is that the way through to those stairs are blocked by a girl and her Snubbul, much to her chagrin.

Moving to try and rouse them and get them out of the way, she heard the girl says a few things.

"Snubbul!" The girl cried out, reaching out towards the Snubbul only for it to growl like crazy. "C'mon, please stay! You're driving me crazy!"

Without a doubt, to Alice, it seems this girl had a few disobedience problem with her Pokemon.

As if to convey smugness, the Snubbul looked away, arms crossed with a simple, "Shnub." Then he made to leave.

"Snubbul!" His trainer called out, but it fell on deaf ears as the Snubbul turned around the corner and disappeared out of sight.

The girl slumped and sighed. "...not again." She heard footsteps and looked to her right, only now did she realize she had a spectator, whom she might have unintentionally blocked the path of. "Oh, excuse me! I didn't mean to get in your way."

Alice couldn't help, but roll her eyes. As if that wasn't obvious enough. "Don't worry about it."

The girl sighed, relieved that the blonde girl didn't take offense for her being in the way.

It might be a bit obvious, but Alice decided to ask. Disobedience is always a problem, after all. "Is there a problem?"

"It's just..." The girl about to say, then took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "My Snubbull...it won't listen to me at all."

Pointing toward the corner, she continued. "Ever since the day I trained it last, it's been totally out of control, even though I raised it from an egg."

Alice couldn't help, but be sympathetic, but decided not to say anything otherwise.

The girl sighed again, feeling a headache starting to assault her. "I guess I shouldn't have underestimated when I heard that Pokemon in Reborn only listen to trainers they really respect."

Alice understood what this meant immediately. "Badges..."

The girl nodded. "That's right, Pokemon will always respect you up to a certain level if you have a gym badge, and you can see the level on your trainer card. It's the first visible one."

The girl rubbed her head. "But, what if I can't win a gym badge? Is there some other way?"

Alice raised an eyebrow at that. There is one she realizes...but that involves some unquestionably dubious action to achieve. She is not about to sink herself so low as to achieve full obedience.

Alice was brought out of her musing by the girl suddenly slapping a hand onto her head forehead. "Oh, sorry, I need to hurry up and find Snubbul before it gets into trouble." Running to and around the corner where the Snubbul had gone, she gave Alice one last glance. "Good bye!"

Alice decided to simply wave at her, since the girl is obviously in a hurry. She couldn't help, but think from that experience.

Pokemon in Reborn doesn't respect trainer unless they can prove it, and that proof comes only with a badge. Otherwise, you can expect disobedience to follow once they got a point where they are stronger than the gym leader.

That means she has to be careful about overextending her training time with her Pokemon. Reborn is truly a difficult place.

As she mused, she heard feathers of flapping to and fro, sign of a bird-like Pokemon. Looking up, she found that a Pidgey had perched there, on the lamp post to her right. And it didn't notice her, just minding it's own business.

Pidgey are not known for their strength, but for a Flying-type, Alice decided it would do.

Now she wanted to decide if she just threw the Pokeball, catch it by surprise and hopefully will get away scot free without a battle. Or she could just battle it and weaken it, then capture. All in a all, both contains the element of surprise, but the former choice requires a bit of a gamble.

Froakie had already battled twice, she was healed, but even she deserves some rest.

Fingering an empty Pokeball, she reeled her arm back and tossed it toward the Pidgey with little to no warning.

The bird could only heard a whoosh before it realizes what came after, a ball colliding with it's center mass. It tried to escape, but futile as the ball quickly sucked it into the ball in a stream of red energy. As the occupied Pokeball dropped out of the air and onto the hard stone just near the stairs, Alice waited, finger already on Froakie's Pokeball if worse comes to worst.

It shook once. It shook twice. It shook thrice. Then a click.

Alice couldn't help, but smile, her first capture in Reborn had been a resounding success.

Walking over, she picked the ball up and looked at it. "Welcome to the team, Pidgey." She then shrunk it before attaching it to the belt the same way she did with Froakie's Pokeball.

All that is left is to put it up to speed with Froakie.

She would like to do it now, but that is for later, when she get a third Pokemon. That way she can start training all three at the same time.

For now, she would like to explore more. Perhaps she could find more Pokemon that way.

[hr]

Of course, as she explored, it shouldn't have come to no surprise to Alice anymore. Even Alice couldn't help, but look on with pity at the devastation in and out of the city.

Even as she go and decided a change in scenery via moving into Peridot Ward just around the corner after leaving Opal, this place is not anymore better than Opal, hell, she probably thought this is probably the same with every Ward. Cracks literally running up and down the street, trash littering every single inch of the street, and the general dreary atmosphere, it was as if the city itself was choking out the air. Not to mention that some of the people she passes by are giving her some stink eye for some reason, as if the city itself wasn't bad enough for one's health.

How can a city have such devastation and no one bothers to do anything about it is currently beyond her.

But again, she is here for a challenge ultimately. She wanted nothing to do with politics.

As she walked forward, she ultimately came upon a big yellow building, just like Victoria said. "Must be the Peridot Ward Gym." Alice whispered.

Now normally is the time she would train her Pokemon in preparation for battle. Two is enough...that is out of Reborn. Using only two, one of them that is also a Flying-type is downright suicide. Even if her Froakie have Protean, that doesn't help it in terms of durability.

Passing around the corner, the building now to her right, she decided to not bother Julia just yet. It's time to find at least one more Pokemon, preferably one that is neutral in advantage at least.

Walking forward, she spotted a Pokemon Center, a safe heaven in this dreary city, which would come in handy. She would hate to literally have to run back and forth from here to the Grand Hall.

Then she spotted something unexpected, a cat bounding across the street toward somewhere, a Purrloin to be exact.

Dark-types are known not for their durability except for a select few, but for their slyness. This would come in handy in a Reborn Gym battle. And one opportunity Alice would not miss on.

So she decided to follow the sly feline quietly. The other people around didn't notice the Purrloin bounding freely, sometimes in their path, perhaps they are used to this.

There it was, the Purrloin, snacking on something within the ground of the alley. That suggest it must have snatched something from someone.

If she are to capture this one, she would have to correct that behavior later. But for now, capture awaits.

Like before, deciding to take the gamble or battle? Unfortunately, in her musing, she didn't realize the feline was staring at her and are now hissing.

That same hiss broke Alice out of her thoughts and cursed herself for being so careless. She lost initiative, but she would have it captured anyway.

Pulling out a Pokeball, it's time to see the performance of her newly captured Pokemon. Reeling her arm back, she threw the ball. "Pidgey, it's time!"

Out from the Pokeball, came the Pidgey's energy coalescing itself to a familiar form. The glow went away, revealing the avian. "Pidgey!" He is now rested and ready to serve her trainer with a squawk.

He dropped onto the floor on his talons and saw his opponent. A cat, the nemesis of all things avian. The feline herself seems to have the same feeling as her hiss had gotten louder.

This would be good.

Meanwhile, Alice decided to take the initiative. "Quick Attack!"

Faster than something so small should have been, Pidgey's form blurred until it collided against the Purrloin, producing a yelp of pain and sending it flying.

While Pidgey are not very strong, they are known for their speed. And Dark-types are all doesn't exactly have the durability of Rock-types in general, so in this fight, things are even in terms of strength.

The Pidgey flew over and stood a few distances from the Purrloin and waited for her to recover. And it's somehow taking a long time to do so.

Pidgey was briefly curious if he hits the the poor cat too hard.

Alice does too, then her mind reeled back upon realizing the trick. "Pidgey, get back!"

A squawk of confusion as he glanced at her...then a sand struck his face. It coughed and tried to swipe the sand off it's face while stumbling around.

Alice should have realized this. Dark-types are pragmatic, trickster by nature. There's almost no way they wouldn't pull of a cheap trick like this.

While she was deep in thought, Pidgey was in trouble.

A hiss reached his ears and by the time he could see again, he saw claws and was assaulted by them. He squawked in pain every time the cat's claws scratched his center mass and sometimes his face. It's painful and it's annoying him.

However, Alice had a plan for that. "Gust!"

Not knowing where the Purrloin is, he decided to flap his wings in the direction in front of him as hard as he could. A yelp suggest he scored a hit.

Once he was sure no claws would assault him anymore nor scratch out his eyes, he opened his eyes and it seems the Purrloin had taken a spiralling trip upward akin to that of a roller coaster within a twister.

The Purrloin meanwhile tried to get out of this Gust, but no matter what it tried, it's futile to try and get out of a twister if all what you have are physical attack. And it was ultimately helpless.

The wind died down, and the Purrloin feel with an 'oof'. She was in pain, but tried to look defiant in the face of her enemies.

Alice simply stared at her, seeing the Purrloin still had some fight in her, she pointed at the cat. "Now, Quick Attack barrage!"

The Purrloin would have none of that, it quickly swiped it's claw at the ground and hurled some more sand the Pidgey's way all the sudden. Unfortunately, he had wised up to it and he blurred out of sight.

The Purrloin tried to use her superior hearings to be able to sense her enemy. All she saw was or heard was just the trainer in front of her, however.

Her eyes widened like dinner plate when she heard something whooshing for her to her left. And she Scratched at that direction.

A squawk of pain and she grinned in satisfaction, that was for the earlier Gust.

But her small victory was quickly overtaken by something colliding against her behind and sending her tumbling forward. And again which send her tumbling backward.

The Purrloin tried to get up again, but fell as quickly as she tried. Looking at her leg, it seems it had been injured in the earlier fall.

Another whoosh and she saw the blur coming straight for her. She glared at it and decided to use her one last weapon in this instance.

She 'meowed' cutely.

The Pidgey stopped short of hitting her with a wing. That was her chance.

She Scratched the Pidgey again, causing him to reel back in pain. Taking her chance, she sprang on her hind leg and ready to unleash pain upon the bird.

Once again, her luck betrayed her when she needed it. As she only now saw a ball coming at her. She was helpless in mid-air and she knew it. It collided against her and she felt herself being sucked inside.

Alice and Pidgey, once he got over the pain, watched as the Pokeball dropped onto the floor.

The same routine with Pidgey's Pokeball happened. It shook once. It shook twice. It shook thrice. A click came.

It seems all that attack was indeed, sufficient. Boy, did the Pidgey wanted to take a rest, the cat sure doesn't go quietly.

"Good job, Pidgey." Alice smiled, it was bit difficult, but her Pidgey pulled it off.

The bird gave her a happy look even as it is returned into it's Pokeball. Alice came over Purrloin's Pokeball and took it.

Judging from the fight the cat had dished out, it would be a solid member of the team in the fight against Julia.

"Welcome to the team, Purrloin." She smiled and pocketed the ball.

"Hey, girlie!"

Only now did she realize there were other people besides her in the alley. Turning around, she was met with the sight of two guys with backpacks staring down at her.

She tried to maintain composure, but at this rate it was rapidly failing her.

"What do you think you're doing inside our living space?" The right one asked.

"That's right, who gave you permission to battle here?" The left one added.

Not wanting to further annoy the apparent ones that are 'living here', she decided to quickly make herself scarce. Not before apologizing. "I'm sorry, sir." Before she turned around and left for the stairs.

Sometimes Alice curses herself for being too focused on the task at hand.

Walking around the city once more, she took the path north and just kept walking, keeping an eye out for more Pokemon to catch.

But to her surprise, she found the tunnel leading to this so-called 'Jasper Ward' being cordoned off by the police. It was the same way earlier with the road to Obsidia and North Obsidia Ward, being cordoned off due to...'dangerous circumstances' she thinks.

It would be good to go there to catch some Pokemon, but alas, fate would have none of that now. Instead, she exited the tunnel and headed right, that was the west coast of the city. She would be running along the shore, the one place she hadn't covered yet in her search for Pokemon.

As she jogged along the coast, she saw a factory near the water, possibly for water treatment purposes, but some people probably wouldn't appreciate her trespassing, so she ignored it. But what she couldn't ignore, as she tried to round the corner back to center Opal, is some green haired guy who was obviously staking the place out.

That was just downright suspicious. Taking a look around, it seems other people still minded their own business despite the obvious facts.

But Alice is not one to jump to conclusions, so she decided to stay as still as possible, maintain distance and listen in first. Perhaps this guy is not as suspicious as she thinks he is.

Then the guy spoke, obvious disdain in his tone as he looked around. "Ugh, where are they?"

Alice decided to roll her eyes there, that behaviour and and he just talked seems way too suspicious for it to not be.

The green haired guy began pacing around while staring at the barred doorway, obviously waiting for someone if his earlier musing is of any indication. "Dammit, I thought they said to meet at the old factory." He kicked a stray pebble out of frustration. "And now they decided to be late?"

Then Alice saw he stopped pacing and seems to contemplate something. "Wait...maybe they meant the other factory?" He scoffed. "Yeah, great work, Flobot. Thanks for the misleading info. Should've specified more."

Alice didn't realize and they made eye contact.

The face that the guy made next is anything, but friendly. She couldn't blame him. Now that she looked at him directly like this, she got a better look. Short brown cargo pants, green shirt and glasses adorn his figure. He topped it all with a necklace.

"Hm?" The guy was staring at her intently, as if appraising her or something. "What are you looking at? Are you looking at me just now?"

Alice didn't deign him with an answer. Instead, she reluctantly nodded, no use lying, she had no time to act none the wiser before he suddenly turned toward the road and in short, towards her.

The guy quickly adopted a sneer. "Got a problem with that?"

"No." Alice answered quickly, hoping to defuse the situation.

He scoffed. "I hope not. You don't know who you're messing with."Then he promptly pointed at himself with all the smugness he can muster. "Name's Fern. I'm the cool cat, and the top dog. Got it?"

Alice somehow decided to make a face right now. Is he for real?

But this person, 'Fern' noticed it. "Cuz' I don't think you do."He promptly pulled out a Pokeball. "Get ready for a lesson in class."

Alice couldn't help but widen her eyes a bit. That was just too sudden. While yes, normally, eye contact is a sign that trainers should battle, they should at least have the common courtesy of asking for the other party's consent before battling. This guy just threw a Pokeball out of nowhere.

Alice sighed, resisting the urge to rub her forehead in exasperation. Why is it that people assume the worst within eye contact is beyond her. She would like to think of why is it that way.

"Hey, are you listening, girl!?"

But right now, she has a battle to execute. "Yes, I hear you." Pulling out her Pokeball, she wanted to test her newest Pokemon anyway.

The green-haired guy simply scoffed. "Hmph, you're going down!" Pulling his arm back, he threw his first Pokeball. "Lotad, show no mercy!"

From within Fern's Pokeball, came the form of the Grass-type Pokemon, Lotad, his lilypad leaf for a hat soaking in the sunlight of the midday sun.

Unwilling to back down, Alice threw her own Pokeball. "Purrloin, it's time!"

Her Pokeball snapped open and out came her recently caught and now healed Pokemon, Purrloin. As she dropped down, she sat on her flank and purred, sounding like a well-oiled engine.

"Heh, seriously? I'm asking for a battle and you're sending a kitty cat?"Fern smiled smugly. "Who taught you how to battle, kid?"

Alice didn't know that was meant to be an insult or a taunt. Probably the former. She decided not to take the bait.

The Purrloin, however, just did. Did this human just call her a kitty cat? A harmless cat? She couldn't help but raise her hackles and hiss at that.

Without further ado, Alice made the first move. "Purrloin, Scratch!"

Fern simply grinned maliciously. "That won't work, Lotad, Bubble!"

The Lotad promptly blew water bubbles out of his mouth that flows toward the Purrloin at a sedated pace.

Seeing the barrage of Bubbles blockading Purrloin's way, Alice put up her right hand. "Wait, stop!" Alice commanded, quickly.

This made Purrloin stop in her tracks quickly. Looking at her trainer in puzzlement, didn't she just order her to try and Scratch that Pokemon to oblivion?

Fern saw this and shook his head. "What's wrong? Chickening out!?"

Once again, Alice decided to ignore that in favor of ending this battle quickly. "Pursuit!"

Now Purrloin knew what her trainer planned. She lunged forward and slid right underneath the mass of bubbles..

Lotad saw that and tried to back away. Unfortunately, the Purrloin decided it was time to appear right on the face of the Lotad. This causes it to yelp in surprise, but that was drowned in favor of a yelp of pain from a sucker punch courtesy of the Purrloin.

"What?" Fern yelped, more in rage. "Lotad, Bubble!"

The Purrloin was much too close now to avoid it, even with the slow speed of the bubble. She promptly soaked and was forced to step backward and claw at her own face to clear water out of her eyes.

"Now that she's soaked." Fern pointed at the feline. "Absorb!"

The Purrloin screamed as she felt her energy being drained through her fur by an invisible force. Her legs shaking, she is starting to lose energy to even stand up properly. It won't be long until she couldn't feel her legs anymore.

Alice would have none of that any further. And Purrloin might be able to pull it off. "Make some cute faces!"

The Purrloin promptly widened her eyes, how could she not think of that? She's a Dark-type, she should have. Now she's a bit embarrassed.

Meanwhile, Fern was befuddled upon hearing the command. "Wha-"

"Meow...?"

Fern saw that his Lotad stopped siphoning off energy off the Purrloin. Not like it could any further. It couldn't bear to hurt the face of such cute creature.

"Lotad! You..." Fern struggled to not say anything untowards. "Don't stop absorbing, you idiot!"

"Fury Swipe!"

Fern heard that, but it was too late for Lotad. Purrloin descended like a thunder upon Lotad and she scratched. The Lotad kept on yelping in pain each time a scratch landed, trying to retaliate is futile as his fears opening his eyes might get it scratched. It couldn't even get away, because it's leg is so tiny that his speed is almost comparable to a Shellos.

And it seems Purrloin had no intention of stopping anytime soon.

"Dammit, Lotad, use Bubble!"Fern commanded, trying in vain to salvage the situation.

Lotad tried to do that, but Alice and Purrloin wised up. "Scratch his mouth!"

As the Lotad tried to open his mouth, it was promptly scratched, causing him to seal it back up. It didn't want it's tongue scratched.

Fern growled, Lotad is of no further use. It is terribly wounded if it continues the battle like this. So he made the decision by pointing Lotad's Pokeball at him.

"Lotad, bac-"A beam of red light lanced out toward Lotad.

"Don't let him, Purrloin. Pursuit!"Alice calmly commanded.

Again, Purrloin lunged. Lotad could only squeak as for the second time, his face got sucker punched. The red beam missed by a mile as Lotad went flying by Fern's head and collided against a stray barrel by the doorway to the factory.

It dropped onto the ground, mumbling something. "Looooo ̴"

The Purrloin walked backed daintily in front of her trainer. She grinned, that will show it to underestimate her.

The unconscious Lotad was promptly returned into it's Pokeball by his trainer. Fern pocketed the Pokeball before taking out another one.

"Don't think you've won, noob!" Fern growled, pulling his arm back, he threw the ball. "Snivy, show no mercy!"

A grass snake Pokemon popped out of the Pokeball and gazed at her opponent. The smug Pokemon raised his nose up and crossed his arm smugly. Is this cat going to be his opponent?

Once again, that blow chipped away at Purrloin's pride and she hissed at the snake, pawing at his direction.

This time, it was Fern who decided to strike out first. "Snivy, use Leer!"

And said Pokemon decided to give the cat one hell of a death glare. Purrloin couldn't help, but feel some of her fur raise at the creepy stare she was administered with.

But Fern wasn't done. "Tackle!"

The Snivy lunged forward, intending to charge into the cat.

"Purrloin, stop it with Pursuit!" The cat herself lunged forward, paw already pulled back for a Sucker Punch.

"Grab that cat, now!" Fern commanded suddenly.

In the middle of her leap, something slithery wrapped itself around her midsection.

Fern gave off a wicked grin at the succesful grab. And he pointed down at the ground, "Now slam her!"

She gave off a yelp as she was raised before being promptly slammed down onto the floor. Again, she was raised and slammed.

Alice couldn't help, but frown. With the lack of anything that Purrloin could use to shake herself lose, this is a dire situation.

For the moment, the cat will have to do her best. "Purrloin, Scratch the vines!"

The feline tried, she really did. But she had to give credit to the Snivy. Anytime she tried anything funny with her vines, the Snivy would simply slam her down again, not bothering with any windup

Unfortunately, the Snivy simply gave her a deadpan stare. The Purrloin grinned awkwardly, at least she tried.

And she is slammed down again.

Snivy saw no movement, just a minor twitch from the cat. Satisfied with that, Snivy pulled her vines back onto herself.

"Hah!" Fern shouted in triumph. "How do you like that? Seems you are weak after all."

Alice sighed, returning Purrloin onto her Pokeball before grabbing another one. This one for sure, she would be confident he would be able to defeat the Snivy.

Pulling her arm back, she threw it. "Pidgey, it's time!" Out of the Pokeball, came her Pidgey.

Upon hearing that, Fern couldn't help, but scowl. "What's wrong? So scared that you have to use a Flying-type against me?"

Alice didn't give off an answer, deciding to instead take the initiative this time. "Pidgey, Quick Attack!"

A blur came so fast that Snivy had no time to reach until it had actually collided and sent her flying. She adjusted herself in mid-air and landed on her feet.

At this point, Fern cursed at his Pokemon's lack of counter for fast Flying-types like Pidgey. "Vine Whip, grab him!"

The snake let loose her two vines and they snaked toward the Pidgey at breackneck speed.

Alice wouldn't let the same thing happen again, however. "Gust!" She countered.

With an almighty flap, Pidgey let off yet one of his twisters, standing in the path of the incoming vines. Indeed, it had stopped the vines dead in it's track, but it had also had the unfortunate side effect of being in range to be sucked in.

Seeing this, Alice smiled as she saw opportunity. "Maximize the Gust!"

Snivy looked in shock as her two vines began to get pulled into the miniature storm. Try as she might to drag it back, she is slowly losing her footing. It's not helping that Pidgey kept on flapping his wings, adding even more wind power onto his Gust.

Fern looked on worriedly. At this rate, not even Snivy could withstand the power of said Gust and would be outright or almost knocked out instantly. Recalling her wouldn't help, his next Pokemon would be in an even more troublesome situation than Snivy does.

The corner of his eye spotted something that might save Snivy. Pointing to a rock to Snivy's right, he yelled. "Grab that lodged rock using your vines!"

Snivy saw what her trainer meant and frantically pulled out a third vine, allowing it to snake around the rock and pulled it taut. This in turn, allowed her to stop dead in her tracks. The Gust still attempt to fruitlessly pull her in. In the end, it's not a Hurricane.

Snivy smiled looking at the rock that is her current safe haven, perhaps it might pull out of this situation, after all.

Unfortunately, neither Pidgey or his trainer wanted Snivy to remain conscious any longer. "Pidgey, loosen the vine." Alice said calmly. "Quick Attack!"

"Vin-" Before Fern could even finish what he was saying, the blur that is Pidgey connected with the vine that is pulled taut against the rock.

Snivy gave off a hiss of pain, but her more pressing matter is that, her grip went loose. And so she was pulled into the storm.

"Snivy!" Fern yelled out. All he heard was the roaring of winds and the occasional yelp of pain from the snake.

Meanwhile, Pidgey simply looked at his handiwork from the rock where the vine wrapped around just now.

Pidgey might not have been maintaining the storm, but Alice knew it was still lethal enough for Snivy right now. As the roaring wind slowly died down, so does the twister, revealing a Snivy in mid-air. She was bruised and battered with three vines hanging limply from her.

It fell onto the ground with a loud thud. Unmoving.

It's just as Alice thought. Snivy lacks some of the other Pokemon's learning curve. The majority of the moves it learned all consist of Grass-types. Even the list of compatible TM's are small. She was worried for a moment there that the Snivy knew Leaf Tornado, that could've potentially cancelled out the Gust, but it appears to not be that way.

Alice heard Fern growl. "You think you can get away with that?" Pulling out what possibly is his last Pokeball, he threw it. "Time to lose! Budew, show no mercy!"

Alice raised an eyebrow at that. It's rare to see people outside of gym leaders and certain other trainers to be specialized in one-type. Just who is this guy?

Her musing was cut short when she heard Fern yell. "Absorb!"

While remaining stationary, Budew glowed. Pidgey yelped as he began to lose strength. Due to his Flying-type nature, the energy taken was not much, but it won't be long if this keeps up.

"Quick Attack!"

Mustering as much strength as he could, he dashed forward into another blur.

Before the blur could collide, however, Fern couldn't help, but smirk. "Now, Stun Spore!"

Alice's eyes widened at that. At the speed he is going, she couldn't simply order Pidgey to stop. And Fern seems to realize that.

Budew stopped it's Absorption and blew an orange spore in front of it. The Pidgey blundered straight into it and collided onto the Budew.

Both went into a sprawling heap. Budew had taken some damage, but Pidgey is in a worse state. Absorption damage and now Paralyzed. Both got up, albeit shakily in Pidgey's case.

"How do you like that now, huh?" Fern declared, smugness appearent in his tone. "Growth! Increase your strength!"

The Budew glowed a bright green.

Alice cursed to herself, now Budew is stronger than ever. There's only one way out of this. But there's a chance Pidgey won't be able to move and his muscles would lock up on it.

"Now finish this, feast on the bird!" Fern pointed at the downed Pidgey.

"Buuu-dew!" The bulb-like Pokemon cried out, glowing bright green as it began to Absorb more energy from the Pidgey.

Alice decided it was now or never. It would be a plus if the effect is indeed, like she had predicted. "Gust!"

Pidgey tried as hard as he could to overcome the minor paralyzis for his trainer. Forcing his muscle to cooperate just this once, Pidgey cawed as he let off another mighty wingbeat and he collapsed.

Budew yelped. Like Lotad before him, being a mere bulb, it's not very agile. And it was caught in the miniature storm.

"Budew!" The twister went on, causing screams to emanate from within.

A few seconds later, the twister died down , revealing a free-falling bulb. An 'oof' was heard as it finally struck the ground.

"Get up! We're not done yet!" Fern commanded harshly. Budew got up shakily like his trainer ordered.

Alice looked at Pidgey, it did good, holding on like that. It even managed to pave way for her final Pokemon.

Returning the unconscious avian inside his Pokeball, she pulled out her last one. "Froakie, it's time!" And Alice threw it.

What follows after was quite anti-climatic.

Alice pulled her right hand's fingers back into a fist."Water Pulse! End this now!"

"Budew! Absorb!" Fern countered, worry lacing his voice.

The Budew weakened, couldn't stand up to the Water Pulse, even if it is ineffective against his type and collapsed. It couldn't even muster enough speed to attempt an Absorb.

All in all, the final fight...was a bit easier than expected.

That wasn't too bad of a battle. At the very least, her two new Pokemon can get some experience in how battling works.

Again, Fern doesn't seem to share her enthusiasm, even if it wasn't appearent on her expression. "Way to get lucky..."

There's few things Alice took offense to...and this is one of them. Accusations based on nothing, especially if the opponent is being a sore loser.

"This is a battle." Alice said in monotone. "Either you win or you lose, and you lose."

Fern just scowled harder at her. "Hmph, yeah right. As if I'll accept your victory. You just got lucky." He shrugged, returning the knocked out Budew into it's Pokeball. "Whatever, man. Don't have time for this."

Indeed, she herself have no time to deal with sore losers. She want to put as much distance as possible from this guy.

Fern continued talking. "Unlike you, I have places to be." The guy looked at her, seemingly deep in thought. "...you wouldn't happen to be doing the league challenge, would you?"

Alice wanted to stay silent, but usually staying silent against guys like him are not the best way to go. "Yes."

He scoffed and waved. "So what if you're doing the Gym League Challenge? Hah, I'm betting you don't even have a badge yet judgin from your team. Talk about lame, dude."

Alice rolled her eyes, which she hoped doesn't get noticed. It's obvious to her this guy seems trying to convince himself he's the best after that...display back there in the battle.

"Maybe you should go work on that." He pointed at himself. "I, however, am required elsewhere."

With a grin, he gave her a two-fingered salute. "Later, loser."And with that, Fern quickly made himself scarce, much to Alice's delight.

What Fern said stung. It was as if he was implying she is no better than a rookie trainer. But he couldn't be more wrong, she had been doing this for years.

Again thought, she is an adult. She is no child anymore, she can handle a few insults.

But even she couldn't help, but sigh at why is it that people in Reborn are generally unpleasant? She hoped that she won't encounter anyone like him again.

 **Author Note :**

Yep, Fern is as much as a jerk as ever. Anyone else found him generally unpleasant?

And yep, that's Alice's first two captures there. Well, it's not like we do have a choice, because we need all the help we can get. Conquering the gyms in the game is mind-bendingly hard. As if the game wasn't hard enough already by restricting what items you can get at this point.

Anyway, that's all for now. Happy reading!


	5. Chapter 4 : Troubling News

After the battle, she had backtracked through the entire Peridot Ward again, thus allowing her to finally stand in front of the Electric Gym proper...which looks like a power plant to her.

While Alice haven't officially trained her new Pokemon yet, she might try to scout it out. Besides, she knows that she can decline challenging the gym leader until she is ready. She is not about to embarrass herself by losing just because she didn't have the time to practice.

As she mused to herself, she failed to see that the glass door slid open on it's own and she collided with someone on her way in.

"Ah..." Alice yelped. "Sorry about that, I wasn't-"

"Alice!"

The voice sounded familiar. Getting her bearing back, Alice should've known it belonged to a certain Electric Gym Leader. "Julia..."

"That's me!" The green haired girl exclaimed, a little too loud. "Were you coming to challenge my gym?"

"No, I was just-" Alice was about to say, but was interrupted by a palm gesturing her to stop.

"I'd love to battle you, but it's gonna have to wait because we've got trouble!"

Alice sighed, it seems this day was just a whole heap of trouble, wasn't it?

Julia didn't look particularly bothered by the sigh, either that or she didn't notice it. "I just got a report from Ame about the bombing at Grandview Station!"

Then Alice's eyebrow raised at that, what Julia had said just sparked her interest. "Go on..."

"Well, they caught the perp', and not only was he not working alone, but there's a whole team!"

Again, Alice found Julia's cheerfulness to be bothersome. Is this really the time to be happy-go-lucky?

And what did she mean by a 'whole team'?

Suddenly Alice had a sick feeling in her gut.

"And he said that the next place they were going to blow up was the power plant...MY GYM!" Julia continued on without a halt. "Nobody booms things without me, least of all MY THINGS!"

Yeah, now Alice knew what sort of sick feeling her gut has. "Is that so?" Alice asked, can't help but be curious about it.

Julia nodded vigorously. "Yep!" She pointed at herself dramatically and declared. "So I'm going to hop over there and teach them a lesson!"

Makes sense. It is the sub-duty of the gym leader to police the area they are assigned in. This includes the whole city if they have to. It seems Julia is in charge of the Peridot Ward.

But still, this is a bunch of terrorist that she is about to tackle on her lonesome. "Are you sure about this?"

"Nah, don't worry, one of my friends is going to come help." Julia then glanced upward. "Whoopsie, I've gotta run. Catch you later, Alice!"

Alice wisely got out of the way before Julia bounded across the place where she had been just now. Sighing, it seems she will have to wait for her to be able to recon the place. Perhaps this would be a good time for some training after all.

"Alice!"

Then said girl looked at Julia. She stopped just short of the fence, glancing at Alice from her shoulder. Somehow Alice knew where this is going.

"Hey, Alice..." The tone was cheerful, but it held some hidden meaning to it. "Why don't you come too?"

Despite being in the middle of the day, the entire area suddenly went quiet, with the occasional chirping of a passing Pidgey.

Alice's intelligent response to that was a simple. "Huh?" Her brain had to comprehend being asked to take part in a possible raid.

Julia's smile widened a bit. "Why don't you come with us too? Four heads are better than one right!? Oh, I think I must've copied 'Rini there!" She giggled.

Again, Alice have no reason to put her life at risk. But for some reason, her mouth had moved before her mind did. "...I'll...think about it."

"Great!" Julia clapped her hands excitedly. "Meet us at the Mosswater Factory. It's right by the train tracks!"

Turning her head back to see where she is going, she bounded across the pavement again. "See you there, Alice ̴" Julia let off a quick wave before departing.

This leaves Alice all by her lonesome. Allowing her to comprehend that she had actually contemplated on Julia's offer.

She heard the news, about some villainous team in some region. How there were stopped dead in their tracks by some kids who just happen to pass by and get on with their lives.

But she's not some sort of hero. She's probably the farthest from one. Alice has no desire to emulate those kids, she wanted to get on with her challenge and leave all this unpleasantness behind.

So why is she still thinking of this? The choice should have been obvious.

Clutching at the area around her heart, she frowned. "...damn, my conscience and curiosity." She couldn't help, but curse. Against her better judgement, she exited the fenced area and heading toward the train tracks again.

"I hope I won't regret this..." She said, more to convince herself than anyone else.

It took no time for Alice to find this 'Mosswater Factory', that was the easiest part. It is after all, the only factory that stood right by the train tracks leading to the Grandview Station. By simply following the tracks and keeping an eye to her left, she found it no problem.

The factory stood by the water as well in that regard. In the name 'water', Alice thought it probably have something to do with water treatment. But the water around the area somehow still maintain a discolored hue for some reason.

Looking around, she spotted the fenced area that houses the factory inside. It was open, and in there staring at the barred door was a familiar green haired woman in yellow cheerleading outfit.

Alice promptly jogged, crossing the train track and entering the fenced area, proper. And it seems in light of her jogging, Julia heard her and turned around. Again, Alice was assaulted to a with a smile too bright that it contrast the entire environment of Reborn City.

"Alice, you came!" She jumped in, arms spread wide in excitement.

Alice sighed, still thinking if she should back out now or not. "Yes, I'm here. What are we doing here?"

"Weeell." Julia turned and pointed at the door. "I was just thinking of how we can get in."

The door was barred, like Alice saw earlier. No chance anyone would get in without at least the help of a Pokemon...or a crowbar.

"I tried to pull it open, but it seems to be sealed shut, huh?" Julia stated.

Alice rolled her eyes. Of course, barred door won't open just like that.

"Soooo." The cheerleader snapped her fingers. "Okay, I have an idea. Stand back, Alice."

Said girl had to raise an eyebrow at that

Walking back to the door, Alice saw Julia smiled in glee, which is probably nothing good. "Oooohhh, this is going to be loud!" Then Alice saw Julia pulled out a red stick.

Alice knew what that red stick was, if only because of the fuse attached to the top end of it. And it was lit!

Tossing the dynamite to the barred door, Julia made a beeline straight for Alice. "KAAAAA-"

Alice need no more incentive to quickly dive to a crawl in the opposite direction and held both hands over her head.

A boom came. Pieces of debris flew over her head, which luckily, not the size of her head.

Alice knew that her actions might be over the top. Call it cowardice, but she'd rather not take any chances after her earlier experience with an explosion. She shuddered at that.

She kept up that position for a while. When Alice was sure no more explosion came after an eternity that is 10 seconds, she took the chance to glance back.

If that was a door previously, one wouldn't know. The entire doorway is gone, leaving a massive gaping hole for everyone to step through.

"Hey, Alice! Are you alright? What are you doing on the ground?"

Sighing, Alice made a move to stand up, a blush lighting up her cheeks in embarrassment. While she accepted that she was being a coward, that made it no less stupid.

"I'm fine." Standing up, Alice brushed herself off.

"Look!" Julia put her hands on her hips and stared at her handiwork...in admiration. "There, all better!"

Nothing was better for Alice, she tried to calm herself down behind Julia. She'd rather not be caught in another thing like that.

Julia turned back at Alice...then she looked to her right. "Hey, where did you guys come from?"

Alice promptly turned around and saw two people. One is a woman in a green attire and glasses, the other...very familiar face she had met earlier.

And it seems the feeling is mutual. "Oh...it's you." Fern spoke, trying to appear uninterested.

Then the young woman beside him spoke. "Explosion detected. Julia's presence confirmed."

...and why did this girl speak like an Artificial Intelligence would?

While Alice loves to muse, the conversation was still going somewhere as seen when Julia spoke. "Well, whaddya know!" She clapped her hands. "Make things go boom, acquire friends ̴ "

Appearing at Alice's side, Julia pointed at the green –clothed woman in glasses. "Alice, this is Florinia. Back in school, she was my roommate and BFF ̴"

After the woman, came Fern's turn. Not even Alice couldn't miss that look of disdain that briefly crossed her expression. "Aaaand, this is Fern." Waving at Fern, she smiled. "Hi Fern. Okay, moving on!"

Judging from the way Julia had just said, Alice guessed she didn't like Fern either. It's not like she could blame the older woman.

"Hah!" Fern pointed at Julia. "So I get no respect. But I guess that's fine really, seeing as Alice and I already met."

Julia looked at Alice's face in confusion, far too close for comfort, that Alice flinched back. "You guys did?"

"We did." Alice nodded, much to her chagrin.

At this time, the green-clothed woman, 'Florinia' interrupts the little exchange. "Time wastes. Let us proceed."

Fern ignored her, however, waving her off. "Yo, Alice."

Alice's face perked up when she heard the call. "Yes?"

"I know we got off on the wrong foot, but it's cool, right?"

Alice raised an eyebrow at Fern. Could it be that she had it all wrong? Was it pride talking back then when she battled Fern?

Alice simply nodded in return. She hoped that was indeed, pride talking back then.

Fern nodded, confirming he got the message, then he jerked a thumb at Florinia. "Don't mind my sister by the way, she's kinda weird. People called her 'Flobot, cuz of how she talks." He snickered at the end.

Alice rolled her eyes. She knew that already, it's not everyday you see someone who talks like an AI. Far too sophisticated speech for a human being.

Julia, however, disagrees with Fern. "Well, I still call her Rini, because she's not a robot." She appeared a little indignant, both hands on hips and all. "Now, c'mon guys, focusies. We have bad guys to boom!"

Alice hoped that it's 'catch' not 'boom'.

"By the way, Alice."

"What is it?"

"This is supposedly be their base." Julia pointed at the blown off doorway. "The guy who bombed Grandview Station is with this group called 'Team Meteor'. Weird name, right?"

Weird names aside, Alice called it. Of course, terrorist won't work alone. Where there are Rattatas, there always bound to be more. Hard to stamp out for a reason.

Julia continued, despite Alice's musing. "Now if we don't in there and boom their faces off, they're gonna keep booming everything else! A practice I normally approve of," She nodded appreciatively.

Now Alice decided to question this woman's sanity. She wanted to have nothing to do with her anymore. She disliked explosion ever since a few hours ago.

"But not like this" She frowned. "So...CHAAAAARGE!"

And Julia dashed inside into parts unknown.

She heard footsteps behind her. Both Fern and Florinia emerged into her view, watching as they stepped inside the hole and into the factory proper.

This was her last chance. Back off and let the proper authorities or the three handle this or she could help those three.

But as she said to herself, Rattatas are hard to stamp out. There's bound to be more than one of this 'Team Meteor' miling about the entire place. This she knew, who knows if the three could handle it themselves, even if one of them is a gym leader.

With a sigh, she followed the three and stepped into the factory.

The one thing Alice notices upon entering Grandview Station was the sight of the lake. It was more brown than blue, signs of waste. But in the factory...it was worse.

If Alice thought the water within Reborn City limit were an unpure brown, the water in the factory seems to have taken an unnatural purple hue. That was an obviously poisoned water.

"This place smells terribadtastic!" Julia exclaimed to Alice's left.

What Julia said had summed it up nicely...even if that wasn't a word.

"This wine hue indicates high level of pollutants. Estimated toxicity : ..." Alice heard Florinia say, pausing a bit. "90+%"

Even if Florinia speaks like an AI, Alice couldn't help, but agree with her. This water is obviously poisoned by some Grimers or Muk, possibly Garbodor. Is this the work of those 'Team Meteor' people?

She could've sworn she heard Julia almost retched at the smell and sight. "And this is being dumped right into Azurine Lake?" She tried waving the smell away from her nose, to no avail. "No wonder it's so poisonous."

"Yeah, yeah, blahblahblahblah," Fern cut in rudely. "Please, I've heard of this enough from Flobot already. So enough with the hippie enviromental bull. Let's just get going."

Alice had no shame in taking back what she had said earlier. Fern is still an asshole to a great degree.

She couldn't help, but ask. "What are we going to do?"

"Weeell," Julia answered for her, turning around to face Alice. "We have to stop this factory from ruining the lake! Team Meteor clearly doesn't care about the well-being of the city!"

Again, Alice rolled her eyes at the obvious facts being stated again. "Alright, then we have to get deeper."

"Agreed, however," Florinia glanced to her right then to her left quickly. "The path diverges. The most efficient course of motion for facilitation of thorough investigation and reclamation of this property is a similar bisection of the party."

"And in English?" Fern asked.

"Duhhh! It means, she said we should split up!" Julia snaked an arm around Rini's neck and pulled her close. "Guess you're with me 'Rini. Let's take the west wing!"

"Understood." The woman said in monotone.

"Alice," Julia pointed at her. "You go with Fern."

"Huh, me!?" Fern exclaimed, obviously not expecting to be paired up by Julia. "Who died and made you boss?"

Alice would rather not go with Fern if she can help it. He is...unbearable. But she would have to deal with this. Dealing with a variable unknown, she has to.

As Alice mused, Julia continued. "And try not to let his attitude get to you ̴"

Fern's scowl became similar to a Sharpedo right then and there. "Excuse me?"

Julia adopted an innocent face, whistling all the while. "Nothing! C'mon, 'Rini' let's goooo! Onward!"

With that, she charged into the hallway leading to the west wing.

"Proceed with caution." Florinia warned. "Team Meteor would not likely find our presence to be acceptable."

Alice nodded. She always does that, but that was simply for training and battling sake, not dealing with terrorist. She would have to be extra careful with this one.

"Tch, I always do, sis." Fern spoke up in her musing.

"You were not the intended recipient of my previous statement." Florinia spoke again in monotone, but Alice noticed a slight bit disdain in her voice. "Permission for you to be life-endangering reckless : Granted."

With that, she was gone as well, following after Julia's possible trail of destruction.

So even Fern's sister found her little brother to be...unbearable? Alice let off a smirk at that small victory.

But she had to quickly wipe that smirk off her face when she is coherent enough to hear Fern's scoff.

"As you can see, she didn't get enough hugs growing up. Eh, not my problem." He shrugged at the end. "Looks like it's you and me. Just try not to slow me down, 'kay?"

Fern was gone as well, this time, heading for the direction of the east wing.

Alice would like to know just what is going on with Florinia. Causing her to have that sort of speech pattern. But this is no time or the place for that.

"Hey! Keep up! Slowpoke!" She heard Fern call.

She and three others have to shut down this place for good.

...and hopefully make it out of this place alive.

 **Author Note :**

Yep, Alice is more than a little hesitant about trying to put herself into danger. Just like Pokemon Reborn is a more darker Pokemon story, she is no hero. She is just a young girl, who is hesitant to involve herself in matters such as these.

However, like all others, usually still driven to do the right thing. Fern is still a jerk as always.

Hope you guys enjoy!


	6. Chapter 5 : Team Meteor, part 1

"Hey, what are you doing here!?"

Stepping out into the the east wing of the factory, Alice found the insides of the room seems to be quite cramped compared to what most factory should have been. There's barrels strewn everywhere and machines which purpose was lost to her on some part of the floor as well.

But that doesn't change the fact that she had now two of those terrorist that had bombed the station giving her a death glare. Both seems to be wearing some sort of grey jumpsuit on top of a black skintight one and finished with a black boot.

Realizing that diplomacy would be lost on these guys, Alice knew she had to fight. She was about to pull out a Pokeball before Fern rudely pushed her aside.

"What am I doing here? We're here to shut down the factory." Giving the two a smug grin, Fern pulled out a Pokeball. "So please, get out of the way losers. I don't have time for you two."

Alice saw that the terrorist seemed to have gained more than a few angry expressions at that declaration. She sighed, even now Fern somehow still finds a way to insult people.

But the one of the terrorist decided to let that one go in favor of battle. "You're in for a world of pain for that, kid..."

And the other gave off a determined glare. "Our orders are clear, send out your Pokemon."

With that, both threw their respective Pokeballs, revealing the basic Rattata and Poochyena.

Fern scoffed. "Is that it? This is going to be easy." He threw his Pokeball and revealing a familiar Budew, now battle ready once more.

Not one to be left behind, Alice threw her own Pokeball and revealing Purrloin, who dropped down to the floor and hissed upon seeing her opponent.

But if what Fern said was true, this wouldn't be as hard as she had thought.

Indeed, the battle that had followed wasn't quite as hard as Alice first imagined. One hit was all that needed.

Pulling her right hand into a fist, she commanded. "Purrloin, Pursuit! Rattata."

Bounding forward, the Rattata immediately shrunk back as the enemy of it's kind, a cat, went after him.

The other grunts would not have that, however. "Poochyena, Tackle the Purrloin!"

The pup leaped forward, ready to intercept the leaping Purrloin heading straight for his partner.

Unfortunately, Fern had taken that time to interfere. "Budew, Mega Drain!"

A yelp of pain came from the Poochyena as it's trajectory went out of control and crashed, it's energy slowly drained by the bulb-like Pokemon that is Budew. Meanwhile, the Purrloin went unopposed.

"Rattata, dodge and Tackle!"

It tried to dodge, but the Feline was faster. Seeing the Rattata was about to leap out of the way, Purrloin changed her trajectory a little and instead, landed on the purple rat.

It squeaked, trying to get the big feline away from his tiny frame. But it's struggles ceased when a powerful paw blow from Purrloin brought it away to the land of dreams.

The Poochyena itself followed suit. With the lack of ranged attacks, it could do nothing to stop the Budew as it's energy is being drained and it soon collapsed after its partner.

Seeing the display, Fern couldn't help, but shake his head. "Heh, pathetic." He walked pass the defeated grunt Budew in tow.

Alice glanced at Fern, that was uncalled for really. While she sometimes felt disappointed in an opponent at times, but that's just being a poor sport if you cannot hold your tongue.

But she can't think like that for now, she had work to do , if a bit unwilling.

Looking at Purrloin, she flicked her head to Fern's direction. "Let's go."

"Purr ̴" The cat bounded forward, paving way for her trainer.

Alice ran after Purrloin and with that, after Fern as well. That battle had been an easy one, but that simply won't last. There are sure to be more in this area.

As her selfmade prediction said, it was correct. Even as she rounded the right corner around a machine, she had already spotted Fern running towards two grunts guarding some sort of computer.

Frantically, they had sent out out two of their respective Pokemon upon seeing a boy and a girl running towards them with Pokemon at their side. An Aron and a Roggenrola for them.

Unfortunately, Fern's Budew had better ideas. Jumping forward, it Absorbed the Roggenrola, who in turned screamed in pain as it's energy being drained out.

Seeing his partner in trouble, the Aron tried to jump to it's defense, again, unfortunately, it wasn't as lucky as well. A familiar sly feline jumped into the way and sucker punched him straight in the face, sending it flying.

The Roggenrola collapsed, followed by the heavy form of Aron who had tumbled across the floor.

This leaves the grunt befuddled at the surprise attack, no more than they were pushed aside by the green clothed boy on his way to the panel. Followed, by the blonde girl running after him.

Alice stopped short before Fern, seeing him mess with the panel, her Purrloin and his Budew joining in to see what he was doing.

"Fern?"

She was ignored, she looked around Fern and found him messing with the controls still. If Alice didn't know better, you don't randomly push buttons in a factory unless you know what to do or a certified professional.

Then a voice came. "UPPER LEVEL LOCK DISENGAGED."

Alice looked at the panel, then at Fern in surprise. It seems she was wrong to think he was messing around randomly.

"Huh, guess Flobot's lessons were useful for something after all." Fern remarked. "But what does this open?"

"There were two paths back where we came from, left and right. Perhaps the panel opened up something on the right path?" Alice offered, hoping she was right.

Fern just scoffed at her. "Hmph, I knew that. " Turning around, he roughly pushed her aside again before. "Out of the way, Alice." He said in passing as he ran off again, Budew followed.

She decided not to say anything again, that would just bound to get her more than a few insult. And she didn't have the time nor the will to have a throw down with Fern again.

Alice knew what she has yet to do. "C'mon."

"Purr!" Again, the Purrloin took the lead, following after Fern.

Once Alice was right around the corner, she immediately took a left and true enough, it was the second path she had mentioned earlier. She had spotted Fern, again heading for two more of these terrorist.

Seeing the look of surprise yet again, both grunts frantically sent out their Pokemon. "Go Aron!"

"Go Zubat!"

Not letting them have any sort of momentum, Fern began the battle in earnest. "Budew, Stun Spore the Aron! Then Mega Drain!"

Jumping forward at the call. Budew spew yellow powders, spreading all over the air. The Zubat was fast enough to wisely get out of the way before the powder got to it, the Aron was not fast enough to do so.

It's muscles locked up properly, the Budew dropped down in front of the Aron and began draining.

Seeing a good prey when it sees one, Zubat went after the bulb-like Pokemon. However, a feline decided it had better ideas by sucker punching the bat in the face, causing it to yelp. It hadn't been done just yet, the Purrloin jumped onto the Zubat and rode him to the floor while her scratches never let up.

The Aron collapsed, both from the combination of energy drainage and muscles locking up. Meanwhile, the Zubat had fallen onto the floor, Purrloin on top of it.

Not wasting time, Fern ran between the two grunts and Alice followed suit alongside both of their respective Pokemon.

Turning around the corner of some random container, Alice saw two guards are running down the stairs, obviously to investigate the commotion. Once they had saw both a young boy and a girl heading for them, they reached for their Pokeball.

"Intruders!" They both exclaimed, throwing their Pokeballs and respectively releasing a Tympole and a Geodude.

Fern had to scoff. "Budew!"

Again, Budew knew what it had to do. Stepping forward, Budew Mega Drained the Geodude. It screamed as fast as it goes down due to it's poor typing against Grass.

Thus this leaves a very unnerved Tympole whose face was soon right in a feline's face and it soon knew pain as it's face is barraged by a rapid fire scratches. A sucker punch Pursuit later and the Tympole went down tumbling down the hall, right near the stairs, mercifully unconscious.

Again, the two befuddled terrorist grunts were left behind by both trainers and Pokemon as they ran past and up the stairs.

Finally getting over their shock, one of the grunts put a hand over his right ear. "Intruders! We have intruders in the factory. Heading for the upper floor! Warn Commander Sirius!"

Once upstairs, Fern and Alice's way was again barred by two more guards. They had wised up compared to the ones downstairs as they had both Pokemon already send out. It was a Zubat and Grimer.

Knowing disadvantage when she sees one, she withdrew Purrloin fast before throwing another Pokeball, Pidgey's one.

As soon as it came out, Alice's command came. "Gust, as big as you can!"

Sending Gust out as soon as it came out, both the Zubat and Grimer was unprepared for the unexpected change in air currents and they both went flying back. The Grimer went splat against the wall, but Alice knew that it's fine, they can reconstitute themselves after all. The Zubat suffered the same fate, again, Alice knew they were fine. Pokemon are fast healers.

Fern ran past them, followed by Alice once more.

"Hmph, I could have handled that." Fern said, more to himself than anyone.

Unfortunately, Alice heard but she doesn't care what he thinks. Things are at stake and she got better things to do then be competitive right now.

True enough, more grunts awaits in their path as they turned the corner around the random machines. Poochyena and Venonat this time.

A simple Gust was all that Pidgey needed to make sure the Venonat doesn't get up anymore for the time being. The Poochyena meanwhile tried it's best to withstand the violent air current, only for it to feel it's legs are shaking wildly and soon it can't even stand up anymore, it's energy being Mega Drained by the Budew behind the miniature storm.

Again, they kept running past the defeated Meteor Grunts, and again they encountered two more guards standing ready, stairs leading up behind them. Two more Pokeballs flew and revealed the familiar form of another Roggenrola and a Stunky this time.

Before neither Pidgey nor Budew could retaliate against this new blockade, the two grunts decided to take the initiative.

"Poison Gas, Stunky!"

Turning around, like it's species, it farted a literal poison gas straight at the two Pokemon.

Alice reeled back, both from the smell and the possible lethality of the poison against human being like her. Fern himself didn't want to be any closer than he wanted.

But Alice will not let Pidgey get poisoned easily, however. "Disperse the cloud!"

Pidgey's eyes are watering at the smell, but his hearing was fine and so he flapped his wings as hard as he could. He produced another miniature storm, dispersing the gas up and away, for possible ventilation system to filter.

Unfortunately, the moment the Poison Gas cleared up, the Roggenrola revealed itself. "Rock Blast those two, Roggenrola!"

Alice and Fern heard that loud and clear. "Dodge, Pidgey/Budew!"

Rocks began flying. Roggenrola would simply collect energies that coalesce into a rock and flung them at his adversaries.

Pidgey dodged, doing a lot better than the near immobile Budew.

"Poison Gas again!"

Alice would have none of that. "Quick Attack!"

One more rock went flying at the Pidgey, hitting nothing, but air. Stunky gasped when something collided against his side, sending him tumbling aside.

"Stunky!"

Fern took that distraction as a chance. "Now, Stun Spore the Roggenrola!"

The Roggenrola tried to prevent this by stalling the bulb with a Rock Blast. Before it could be launched, however, it's body refused to cooperate due to the rain of powder all around it. Then it felt it's energy being drained.

Meanwhile, Stunky collided against the wall once more and it collapsed. The Pidgey was simply too fast for it to track. This followed by Roggenrola collapsing from Mega Drain attack.

With two more grunts defeated for the day, both headed upstairs.

Going up the stairs two at a time, both arrived at what appears to be the top floor of the Mosswater Factory. Even to Alice the building didn't seem too tall when seen from the outside.

True enough, the moment they took the first step off the stairs, looking to their left, they spotted two familiar green haired woman. Alice was a bit surprised they had arrived earlier, a bit due to the fact that at the very least one of them is a gym leader. It's understandable that their team's combat ability is top notch.

"Hey, sis!" Fern called out, walking over to them with his Budew. "I see you're still alive."

Florinia gave no indication of acknowledgement other than a slight glance from the corner of her eyes.

Alice walked up to them, Pidgey perched on her shoulders and took a stock on what Julia and Florinia are massive doorway, barred by shutters, and with a control panel on it's side that was orange in color, probably locked.

It didn't take long for Alice to realize what this is. "...is that?"

Florinia nodded. "Correct, Meteor Headquarters confirmed beyond the gate."

Julia grinned in glee. "Now it's just a matter of opening it!" Then it widened just a bit, not looking completely out of place for a Sharpedo. "I can easily blow this gate to smithereens...if only I still have my boomies. Used my last one getting in."

Alice had no idea what to say to that nor does she care. She does not like being in the vicinity of explosion as of currently. Julia not having any more dynamite is an Arceus-send.

Unfortunately, in her musing, Julia snapped her fingers. "But if they were planning to do demolitions, they probably have some that they'd let us borrow!"

Correction, Alice knew this is no Arceus-send. More like a Giratina sent package.

But Julia continued. "If we can get those, I can get us past here no problem-o!"

Somehow Alice knew where she was going with this already. She probably had to fetch some sticks...literally.

"Regardless..." Florinia cut in, moving in onto the orange panelled control. "This facility's digital security system appears substandard. A brute force attack should be sufficient. Please hold."

Alice wanted to sigh in relief, she really do, but held that off. There's still a chance that some of those three wanted to take the more 'explosive' pathway.

Julia put her hands on her hips. It seems she had better ideas. "Brute force? I don't think we're gonna punch through the door!" Then she turned toward Alice, wearing that grin she had earlier. "Alice!"

Alice wanted to ignore her, but that would seems rude. "Yes?"

"Think you can find where they keep the explosives? It wasn't in the way we came, but it's probably nearby! If you can do that, we'll be in easily!" Julia finished.

Alice disagrees with that notion, immediately. "Can't we just..." She gestured toward Florinia. "Wait for her to hack into the system?"

"Nuh-uh," Julia shook her head firmly. "That's probably gonna take a while for 'Rini to open the door! Instead, we're gonna boom it!"

"Why is combustion your solution to any obstacle?" Florinia asked, glancing briefly beyond her shoulders towards the cheerleader.

Julia herself glanced back at her friend and grinned. "Fun for the whole family?"

"Indeed." Then Florinia got back onto what she was doing again. Apparently not knowing what to say anymore either.

Seeing that, Julia turned her ecstatic expression onto Alice once more."So whaddya say, Alice? Wanna help me out on this one?"

The blonde league challenger sighed. She didn't know how Julia got her position as a gym leader really, considering how...clueless she is sometimes. And she probably doesn't want to know.

Regardless of that, Alice couldn't turn down a request like that, especially not with the face Julia made. Sometimes, she hates her conscience."...fine." She finally said. "But let me get away before you blow the door."

Fern noticed this. "What, afraid of a little explosion?" He sneered. "Pussy."

Alice doesn't care if she is being a pussy right now. She doesn't want to be near explosions, period.

"Whatever, man," Fern shrugged at the end. "I don't have time to sit around all day and wait for the Flobot to hack into the system. Let's just go find some bombs already."

Julia clapped her hands. "That's the spirit! For once, Fern says something I totally agree with!"

"Quick, you two! To the boom-mobile!" Julia pointed to somewhere behind Fern and Alice.

Alice took a quick glance and true enough, another small hallway leading to another room beyond. Probably where the explosives are being held.

Sighing, she looked at Pidgey perched on her shoulder. "C'mon, Pidgey..." Alice flicked her head towards the hallway.

With a caw, it took off from her shoulder and went on a flight path down the hallway.

Fern took a look at Budew and he saw that as his cue to follow Pidgey's lead. Then both trainers went into it themselves, intending to find some explosives.

"Dammit, we can't stop them!"

"What's up with these brats!?"

It was what Alice had heard from the recently defeated grunts behind her. It seems the whole raid was going smoothly, not like what she had expected very early.

Now they were running again, following the path the machinery and barrel had made for them. They had to take the long way around to the other side of the room due to the random junk-like engines being placed onto their path.

It wasn't long before they encountered another two grunts standing in their path. Behind them was a crate containing something that have the end looks suspiciously like a fuse.

It seems they had found their tickets inside. "They're guarding the dynamites."

"Yeah, no shit, Alice! I can see that." Fern remarked, stopping short before the two grunts just as they sent out Lunatone and Solrock combo.

Alice had seen this before and knew how to deal with them. "Return, Pidgey!" Returning Pidgey into it's Pokeball, she pulled out another one and threw it. "Now, Pursuit!"

Out came a familiar Purrloin whose form leaped onto the Lunatone the moment she came out of her Pokeball. She sucker punched it and a humm from the Lunatone followed.

For her trouble, she was thrown off by a Rock Throw by the ally Solrock with a grunt.

"Mega Drain the Lunatone!" Budew leaped onto the air and began sucking.

Two super effectives attack in a row doesn't bode well for a dual Rock and Psychic-type like Lunatone. Not to mention they were not the most durable either.

Not to mention, Purrloin got her bearing back and leaped onto the Lunatone before she began scratching away, not caring if it's super effective or not. How dare it shrugged her off just like that!?

The ally Solrock was in confusion. Which one was it supposed to target?

It's trainer decided things for it. "Solrock! Don't just stand there, target the Budew!"

Heeding it's trainer's advice, it targeted the Budew with Confusion. It flew true and struck the occupied Budew. Due to it's relatively slow speed, it has no time to dodge.

"You'll pay for that!" Pointing at the Lunatone, he ordered. "Finish what you started, Budew!"

With a grunt, the bulb-like Pokemon got up and again began draining the trashing Lunatone, in the process of trying to get the feline of it's face.

In one final desperate move, it's trainer commanded. "Rock Blast yourself Lunatone. The Purrloin is in your face!" It had to use Rock, knowing Psychic-type wouldn't affect a Purrloin.

It stood stock still and began gathering energy for a Rock Blast, as big as it can muster so it can finally rid itself of the annoying Purrloin.

"Confusion. On the Budew!" The other grunt commanded his Solrock, as an effort to distract the Budew.

But Alice nor Fern would let them have their way. "Switch, Purrloin!"

In one deft move, the Purrloin glanced at the Solrock and leaped off the Lunatone. The results in the Rock Blast that was fired for her ends up hitting it's owner's own face.

The momentary shock was all it needed to latch onto the Solrock this time. Unlike before, only Pursuit followed, not Fury Swipes.

"Keep draining, Budew!"

"Buuuu ̴"

The Lunatone tried again for a Rock Blast, aimed for the Budew to at least stall it. But all the Swipes and Mega Drain took its energy into a freefall. The red glow on it's eyes faded and it collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Meanwhile, the Purrloin kept sucker punching the Solrock with Pursuit. Anytime it tried something funny with Rock Blast, it will be punched in the face.

It swiped again, as hard as she could at the floating rock's face. This time, she felt gravity catching up to her. Leaping off the rock as it fell, she landed in front of her trainer, proud look adorning her expression.

Alice and Fern ignored the stunned look the grunts gave them as they made their way to the crate.

The moment Alice stepped in front of it, she realized it really is a whole crate full of dynamite.

Fern shoved Alice aside again yet again and grabbed two sticks of the dynamites. "Good, I'll just grab these and get out of here."

With Budew following him, Fern left through the way they came.

Purrloin couldn't help, but hiss at Fern. Couldn't he be a bit more polite to her trainer for once?

Alice herself wondered that, but decided she'll think about that later. For now, she had to return to Julia.

Returning to where Julia and Florinia were, dynamites in tow, Fern called her out. "Hey, crazy lady!"

"Eh?" Julia turned around and found two familiar sticks floating towards her, but she deftly caught them.

"Found your 'boom sticks'!" Fern said finally. "Now are we gonna do this or what?"

Julia was still fascinated upon the pair of boomsticks in her grip, however. "Boomies! You got them!"

Fern rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we got them. Again, are we gonna do this?"

"Okay!" Pulling out another lighter from nowhere, Fern took a step back while Julia took a step forward, dynamite in hands. "Let's do this!"

Alice, now just entered the room, decided to back off again in preparation for the coming explosives. She will not be anywhere near those again, her heart might not be able to take it.

And that was probably a wise thing to do since Julia are now in front of the shutters, jamming the two boomsticks onto the gaping between the holes. Lighter closing onto the fuse.

"Okay!" She put the lighter closer ever so slightly, Alice put her fingers into her ears. "Three...two...Ka..."

Then the shutters opened up, the lighter missed it's mark.

Julia simply look dumbfound at this. "...huh?"

"Access granted." Removing herself from the panel, Florinia stood in front of the now unbarred doorway as if she hadn't done anything before.. "Let us proceed." Just like that, Florinia was gone into the next room.

Alice was...silenced...but she eventually smiled nonetheless, relieved that no explosions are needed for no barred entryway. "Thank, Arceus." She can't believe Florinia pulled through at the last second.

Alice finally entered the room proper and Fern noticed her. She couldn't help, but notice his grin.

"You really are a pussy, Alice." Fern said, having all the combined smugness in the world.

Like before, Alice didn't care. She'd rather not be anywhere near those things.

"Wait, but...I...and...the booms! What about the the booms!?" Julia was at a loss for words, ultimately staring at the doorway where Florinia had gone into. "'Rini, you can't do that! I was just about to- Rini!?"

And she bounded inside, intending to give Florinia a piece of her mind.

Meanwhile, Alice and Fern simply stood there, watching the spectacle that had happened just now.

To Alice's surprise, Fern suddenly laughed out loud. Alice simply didn't know what's so funny about the whole situation really, it's better than using explosives...and for her nerves as well.

Once Fern had calmed down, he looked at the blonde challenger. "Heh, leave it to my syster to ruin everyone's fun."

Alice had to roll her eyes at that, not everyone found explosives 'fun'.

"Eh, whatever." Fern shrugged. "Let's just get a move on." He walked toward the room, leaving Alice somewhat behind.

Looking back at the doorway, Alice will probably encounter the leader of this little operation. But backing out now won't do it, she was already in too deep.

With much reluctance, she stepped inside to finish up the job.

"You! Are you the one in charge here!?"

Alice heard Julia yelled...or screamed. She couldn't blame them. There were two other grunts in here, but they were...generic compared to the 'leader' because she herself saw the one guy who is the most different compared to the rest, possibly the one in charge.

He was wearing some sort of red, glass and almost see through eyepatch for starter, messy black hair. He wore black jeans and...some short of strange shirt of the same color of his jeans with a crisscrossing x both on his waist and chest and finally pauldrons on his shoulders.

The 'leader' regarded Alice for a moment, then turned back to the gym leader with a raised eyebrow. "And what if I am?"

Julia's cheeks puffed out in a way similar to an indignant kid. "We're gonna blow your face off for what you did to Grandview Station!"

The 'leader' took that in...and chuckled. "Amusing. Tell me, what power do you think you have to do so?"

The cheerleader took offense to that statement. "Just who do you think you are, anyway?"

The eyepatched man simply laughed mirthlessly. "You know that already." Pointing at himself, he stated. "We are Team Meteor. And we do not relent."

Unfortunately, Fern took this as a chance to speak up. "Relent? Funny you should say that. Because all the guys back there?" Fern jerked a thumb behind him. "They're so pathetic they can't even put up a fight."

The 'leader' now regarded Fern briefly as well. "Don't think you got through this place on your own ability. We had no intention of defeating you because our purpose here is forfeit already. But it was necessary to let you all in, so you all could attend a demonstration."

Julia was a bit dumbstruck at that, and tilted her head questioningly. "Let us in?"

Glancing at Florinia's way now, the 'leader' chuckled. "Did you really think you hacked our security so easily? Foolish."

Alice cursed to herself, she should have known it wouldn't be this easy.

"I ordered our operators to slow you down long enough to delete all mission critical data from our systems."He gave off a menacing smile. "But it seems we overestimated your strength. Time was ample as you can see. And we grew tired of waiting."

Only did Alice notice the room they are in was a computer room, if only there was two giant screens and two keyboards on the other side. Was that the computer the 'leader' was talking about?

"Now," The 'leader' pulled out his Pokeball. "Enough talk."

Alice almost, just almost pulled out her Pokeball when she saw the 'leader' pulled out his. She had to remain calm, no sense in trying to rile up dangerous terrorist anymore. They are volatile enough already on their own.

Or perhaps she was still scared which is pretty much her whole issue with even going along this whole raid.

In her musing, the leader called out for someone. "Aster,"

One of the two grunts, a woman stepped forward. "Yes, boss!"

"Eclipse?"

The second grunt, stepped forward, a man this time. "Yeah?"

Flicking his head toward Alice and Fern's direction. "Deal with the small fries."

"Hey, who are you calling small fries, asshole!?" Fern appeared indignant at that statement.

The 'leader' ignored him. "I can handle the gym leaders."

The male grunt, 'Eclipse' simply scoffed. "Hmph, if you say so." Then he turned to face Alice and Fern, followed by the woman, 'Eclipse'.

Fern growled, Alice observed, obviously not taking the whole 'small fry' deal in a good way. She just ignored her, being called that more than once in her previous journeys.

Instead, she preferred to ready herself, Pidgey was still out, but she was still ready to switch in case his matchup is bad.

The two grunts pulled out their two respective Pokeballs. Then the woman shouted. "For Team Meteor! Let's go, Aster!"

And both threw their Pokeball.

 **Author Note :**

And there we go, the first encounter with the infamous Team Meteor. This is only the first of many difficult encounters, against the villainous team.

By the end, no one would come out of it in one piece.

There you go, hope you guys enjoy!


	7. Chapter 6 : Team Meteor, part 2

As the two Meteors threw their ball, out came the familiar form of both Elekid and Magby combo.

Alice frowned at that, recognizing another combo when she sees one. Right now, she wasn't that worried, but it would still be worrying if because if she remember correctly...physical contact with both Magby and Elekid would produce...undesired results.

But the battle would not wait for her musing to end, however, as she had found out.

"Magby!" Eclipse shouted, pointing out toward the Pidgey on Alice's shoulder. "Fire Spin!"

The Magby sucked in a large intake of air and blew, releasing a whole stream of flame heading straight toward Alice and in short, toward Pidgey as well.

Alice quickly reacted. "Pidgey! Gust!"

The avian nodded with a caw and jumped off her shoulder and flew true straight toward the Fire Spin. Just as the Fire Spin began spreading out into a vortex around her trainer, it flew up and unleashed a minor Gust with a flap of his wing.

Alice had to shield herself from the violent wind, but cracking an eye open, the Gust had almost blown the vortex out of existence.

Unfortunately, Aster made it that time for him to move. "Elekid, it's distracted! Thunder Shock the Pidgey now!

Pidgey simply cawed, dumbstruck at the Electric-type that had decided to suddenly appear right in front of his face.

Alice was about to command Pidgey to get away, but then she saw something happening. As if the Elekid was gathering energy, she saw static electricity from the walls were drawn to the Elekid and it glowed brighter just briefly.

Then it Shocked Pidgey.

Shielding her eyes from the bright light show, she couldn't see anything what was happening, only there was a yelp of pain.

Once the bright light show had faded, she decided to steal a glance and saw Pidgey falling from the air and landed in a painful thud in front of her. The Elekid itself landing in front of it's trainer, Aster.

Then finally, looking around, she had recognized where she is. "...factory field..."

The male grunt smirked. "That's right, girl! In the factory field, Elekid's Electric-type attacks are stronger!"

Alice cursed to herself. How she could have been so stupid as to not realize it was beyond her. She had read about this, she should have realized. Again, perhaps she was too focused.

Alice was known as many things...but she is not one to repeat the same mistake again.

Alice's gaze gained a certain dangerous glint to them.

"What's wrong, little girl?"Aster taunted. "Don't tell me you never realized this happens all the time in Reborn!"

"Aster, shut up and focus!" The woman growled.

Fern himself decided to taunt her at this point. "What a noob you are, Alice." He smirked then pointed at himself smugly. "Let Fern deal with this."

"As if, kid!" Eclipse growled. "Magby, Fire Spin!"

The Budew yelped when it saw flames promptly coming toward it. For all of his trainer's boast, he had no way of dealing with flames like this.

Fortunately, it's savior came in the form of a Pidgey flying in front of it. "Pidgey, Gust!"

With an almighty wingbeat, Pidgey unleashed another gust, this time as a strong twister. The stream of flames struck the twister and was instantly blown out. Not yet done, the twister headed toward the Magby and blew it away.

"Elekid, Thunder Shock that damned bird!"

Out of the twister, came yet another surprise attack from Elekid who promptly launched a boosted Thunder Shock at Pidgey.

Unfortunately, for Aster, Alice had wised up already. "Quick Attack!"

And thus, Pidgey became a blur. Before Elekid could react nor defend, he was struck in the face by something feathery and was launched cleanly across the room.

Dropping onto the floor, the Pidgey grimaced, he was still injured after all by that boosted Thunder Shock.

"I could have taken care of that..." Fern muttered.

Alice was not convinced. Like it or not, Budew is slow, not to mention it's a part Grass-type.

"Elekid, Magby, get up! We're not done yet."

The voice of the two grunts brought Alice and Fern back to the matter at hand.

And Fern decided to open matters himself. "Budew, Mega Drain the Elekid!"

Budew jumped forward, ready to drain the Elekid of it's energy.

Some people had other ideas, however. "Oh no, you don't, brat!" Aster shouted. "Run up and Thunder Shock!"

The Elekid followed as commanded, running forward and jumped forward, ready to seemingly take the hit from Mega Drain, but what it did, however was unleash a Thunder Shock.

This in turn stalled and causes Budew to flinch back upon it connecting with him. It may not be super effective like it had been on Pidgey, but the factory field itself had certainly caused it to be somewhat painful.

Then before it could get it's senses back on track, he saw a shadow looming over him. Looking up, it caused the Budew to shrink back in fear upon seeing an airborne Magby.

Eclipse couldn't help, but smirk. "Now, Ember!"

The Magby took a deep breath and blew small bits of flame, but no less lethal that is headed straight for the Budew.

"Budew, quick, dodge it!" Fern shouted quickly.

It tried, but it couldn't. It was just a bulb in the end, having a poor speed to do so.

"Quick Attack save!" Someone shouted.

A blur struck the Budew and knocking it aside. This reveals a familiar Pidgey who stood where Budew once was, but it had no intention of getting set alight either. Quickly it jumped aside, and made it, the flames licking the feathers on his wings, causing him to grimace.

But Alice wasn't done. "Now, Pidgey, Gust. As strong as you could."

Taking into the air, he flapped his wings as hard as he could and unleashed yet another one it's signature violent wind currents.

"Continuously, Pidgey!"

It followed and kept on flapping it's wings as hard as it could in order to trap his opponent in the twister of doom.

Fern himself hadn't been idle. "Thank you for the distraction, Alice, but now Budew can get stronger. Growth, quickly!"

The Budew, as if taking energy from it's surroundings, began to glow a bright green before it was gone as soon as it came.

Alice decided to stay alert rather than listening to Fern's smugness. Because true enough, she saw some electrical charges from the otherside of the violent twister.

Then the whole thing lit up like a Christmas tree and both trainers have to shield their eyes lest they would want to get flash-blinded.

Once Alice had enough courage to crack open an eyelids, she was both surprised and horrified. The entire twister lit up because of the thunderstorms mixed into it, sending arcs of electricity whipping about at random. "Pidgey, get out of there! Quick Attack!"

However, Pidgey had been flash-blinded and fell to the floor at the most inopportune time. It was currently swiping at something it couldn't even see.

Alice cursed to herself, of course, birds would have a much more sensitive eyesight. They need to be in order to locate their prey.

Budew himself wasn't so lucky, but it recovered quickly enough. Seeing the Pidgey in danger, it moved to try to ram it out of the way.

Then came a burst of flames that struck the ground in front of him, causing him to yelp in surprise.

Magby had side-stepped the entire twister and was already within Pidgey and Budew's side of the field.

"C'mon, Magby, Ember again!" Eclipse yelled.

"I don't think so! Mega Drain!" Fern yelled.

Quickly following his trainer's instruction, Budew Mega Drained the Magby, causing it to briefly stop in it's track due to the power boost granted by Growth. However, in the end, it's still an ineffective move.

"Maaag- by!" It yelled out in pain, but stood up on it's legs then blew another Ember at the Budew.

The proximity had made sure it's a hit, sending Budew back a couple of inches. Budew grunted at the super effective hit.

Now that the Budew was briefly distracted, Eclipse intended to turn that into another advantage. "Now, Ember the Pidgey!"

Alice's eyes widened at that. "Pidgey! Come to your senses!" She said almost frantically.

But it was too late, Magby ran toward the Pidgey at breackneck speed and blew another Ember at almost point blank range.

The result was a squawk of pain, but that pales in comparison to the twister now close to it. It began to get pulled into it.

Magby wisely backed away, even without his trainer's command.

"Pidgey!" Knowing a desperate situation when she sees one, she pulled out her Pokeball to withdraw Pidgey and switch, but it was too late.

With a strangled squawk, Pidgey only got his vision back only at the last moment, before it get pulled into the twister.

The size of the twister was severely downgraded due to Pidgey's ceasing to maintain it. But the severity of it has not downgraded in the least due to the thunderstorm mixed into it.

She winced when she heard Pidgey's being assaulted both by the force of his own twister and the electrical storm within. Even some flashes revealed the helpless form of Pidgey at sometimes.

Creating thunderstorms with Thundershock wouldn't have been possible without Factory Field. It simply lacked the power.

As the twister slowly died down, so did the thunderstorm. It revealed the charred form of Pidgey, now throughly unconscious and began falling to the floor.

Pidgey may went down in flames, but Alice wasn't done yet. Before it could hit the floor again, she recalled it. "Pidgey, return!" Quickly, pulling out another Pokeball, she threw it. "Froakie, it's time! Water Pulse!"

As soon as Pidgey was returned, out came Froakie and fired Water Pulse the moment it had came out. It flew true and struck the dumbfounded Magby, and a scream of pain followed by a sizzle occurred.

Collapsing onto it's knees, the Magby groaned before falling forward, now unconscious.

"Magby!" Eclipse yelled out, but after a while, it was apparent that it won't be getting up anytime soon. "Dammit."

Meanwhile, Budew did it's best trying to get Elekid onto it's knees via Mega Draining it to exhaustion.

Then Alice turned her attention toward the last Pokemon on the field. "Froakie, Pound!"

Nodding, Froakie bounded forward, a flash signified in the change of type due to Protean. Then he jumped, ready to bring down the wrath of her arm onto the Elekid.

"Elekid, dammit, Thunder Shock that thing already! No, everything around you!" It's trainer yelled in frustration.

Elekid obeyed, once again drawing power from the terrain around him and unleashed another electrical charge. It shocked not only Budew, but also Froakie and both were sent flying.

Budew tumbled across the floor, but Froakie recovered quickly, glad that changing it's type had prevented what could possibly be a lethal OHKO blow. Froakie wasn't the most durable Pokemon after all.

"That thing is still standing, Elekid!" Aster yelled out. "Again, Thunder Shock."

Elekid obeyed, drawing yet another power from the factory and launched a Thunder Shock.

"Quick Attack!" Froakie's already unnatural speed become boosted by the move and it blurred out of the way. "Now Water Pulse!"

The earlier Thunder Shock had missed it's mark my a mile. In the midst of recovery, it was assaulted already by a blast of spherical water that launched Elekid forward onto Alice and Fern's side of the field.

Now that it had tumbled there, Budew revealed himself once again.

"Budew, now, Mega Drain!" Fern commanded.

Budew followed the command of his trainer and began draining once more. Elekid tried to stand up, but it's rapidly losing strength, not to mention it's legs and arms felt like jelly.

"Elekid, Thunder Shock that thing now!" Aster yelled out frantically.

Without so much as a fanfare, Elekid Shocked Budew. It was briefly shaking wildly from the electrical discharge but not for much longer.

"Swift, don't let up!"

Putting up it's arms now it got some of it's strength back, it conjured numerous stars that quickly homed in and struck the Budew. He grunted each time they were hit.

Unfortunately, Aster had forgotten he had to deal with two opponents now.

"Water Pulse then hammerfist Quick Attack!"

Almost out of nowhere, it was again assaulted by something wet colliding with it's back and sending it tumbling forward once more. While it was sailing, however, the blur had quickly caught up and had pounded him to the floor, drawing a gasp of pain from the Elekid.

"Finish it off, Budew!"

Budew, now somewhat recovered from being shocked a second time, jumped forward toward the sailing Elekid and Tackled. The new momentum carried it away from Alice and Fern's side of the field and caused it to tumble in front of it's trainer.

"Elekid! C'mon, get up!" Aster ordered.

It cocked its head up, looking at Froakie and Budew's direction, then it fell onto it's face. Very much unconscious.

Alice now turned her attention at the two grunts, who wore a shocked expression on their face, as if somebody had just struck them across the cheek.

"Huh?" Aster said intelligently.

Eclipse brought herself out of the shock and growled. Begrudgingly pulled out her Pokeball. "Magby, return!" She returned the knocked out Magby from the floor.

Seeing what his partner did brought Aster back from shock and pulled out a Pokeball of his own. "You too, Elekid." Said Pokemon was also brought back to the safety of it's Pokeball.

Alice had to admit, despite being grunts, these two like she had thought before are not quite on the same level as the other grunts. She had to at least respect their level of skill as well as Aster's clever usage of the environment.

With a sigh, Alice pulled out Frogadier's Pokeball and returned her into the Pokeball. Fern followed suit moments later with his own Budew..

"So you both lost already?" Alice heard a certain someone said as she pocketed the ball..

She looked back at the 'leader' and found he was glancing at Aster and Eclipse's way with a disapproving look on his face. Meanwhile, she found he had unleashed a Seviper and it was currently doing it's best battling an Electrode certainly belonging to Julia and a Cradily that belonged to Florinia.

"...how disappointing." He finally said. "Losing to a couple of kids like this. Expect immediate disciplinary action when we're back."

Aster wanted to argue...but a sudden glare by Eclipse had withdrawn whatever it is he wanted to say immediately. Instead, he just decided to go with a simple. "Yes, sir."

"Good, now," The 'leader' looked back at his own battle and frowned. "I can take on two myself easily, but four..."

Alice herself also frowned, now deep in thought. It was already considered impressive by many to be able to go toe-to-toe with two trainers at once with only one Pokemon. Is this the strength of the trainers of Reborn?

The 'leader' shrugged. "It was an amusing diversion, nonetheless." He pulled out a Pokeball and withdrew Seviper back.

Alice was a bit...dumbfounded by this, so is Julia by the looks of it. Is he folding the match?

"Hey, does this mean, we won?" Julia piped up.

Seeing the look on Julia's face, he smirked. "Don't think you've won, however." His eyes suddenly got a glint on them, malicious ones. "Team Meteor does not forgive..." And with that, he vanished...literally.

Alice had to blink, then wipe her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. The space where the two grunts and the 'leader' once occupied remained empty, however.

"...what the hell!?" Julia ran forward and inspected the area, then she appeared indignant. "How did they do that? You can't just walk out of a battle, you jerk!"

Alice thought of that too, possibly teleportation is at work here. It is certainly possible if someone had a Psychic-type waiting nearby.

"Hey, sis, would you mind giving an explanation here?" Fern demanded.

"I do not know, Fern. Certainly, a teleportation is at work here, but I simply have theories. There are no concrete evidence to support this, however." Florinia stated simply.

"Tch," Fern rolled his eyes. "Just when I thought you can be useful for once, Flobot."

"Nonetheless, the enemy is no longer in the vicinity. Cradily, return." Florinia returned her Cradily into it's Pokeball.

Julia sighed to herself, knowing when a battle, ended when she sees one. "You too, Electrode. Good job out there!" And the cheerleader returned her own Electrode.

Now that the 'leader' had retreaded, was their purpose done here? It certainly seems that way to Alice, seeing as even she knows that those guys would no longer have anything to gain by remaining here and probably already made themselves scarce.

In short, they should get out of here. "...let's go, I think we're done here."

"Heh, for once, I agree with Alice." Fern smirked and he moved toward the doorway they came from..

Only to be stalled by Julia. "Hold on you guys, I wanna check something out!"

Without so much as a consent from everyone, Julia bounded across the room, stopping short only in front of the computer. Her fingers then began swimming across the keyboard, tapping furiously, but not carelessly.

"Hey, crazy lady, newsflash. I think we should get out of here!" Fern shouted, but was ignored by Julia.

Alice herself had to agree with Fern's assessment, they no longer have any reason to remain here. She just wanted to get out of here, in case this 'Team Meteor' decided to return and found there were less-than-needed intruders on the base...despite the very low chance of that happening.

With one final motion, Julia slammed a finger down on a key and brought Alice out of her musing. "Okay!" She turned around and gave them a smile of gleefulness, which Alice take wasn't anything good. "You all should start running now!"

Alice had to raise an eyebrow, why would they start running? Then her eyes widened at the implication.

"Huh? What did you do, now?" Fern questioned.

Julia's grin widened even more. "KAAAA-"

"Oh shit! Let's move!" Fern shouted.

Alice doesn't need to be told twice.

"Well," Julia crouched then came up into a jump befitting a cheerleader. "That's a wrap! Gooooo, team!"

"Uh-huh." Fern just muttered, not the least bit amused that Julia tried to blow the building and them to kingdom come.

Meanwhile, Alice is not convinced that explosion was the least bit 'fun'. She was currently on the ground on her knees and supporting herself with both hands, all the while trying to make sure her heart didn't burst out her chest out of fear.

"Damn, what's wrong with you, Alice? Are you really that much of a chicken with explosion?" Fern sneered, looking down at the almost prone form of Alice.

Alice had felt no shame in nodding.

Fern just shook his head. "You're embarrassing. If we're done here with the crazy lady's pyrotechnics, I'm getting out of here. Can't dawdle around here all day like Alice."

Alice took offense to that, but decided to remain silent.

"Peace!" Fern gave off a two finger salute before making himself scarce.

This leaves Alice, Julia and Florinia alone.

Julia puffed out her cheeks at Fern. "Way to sour the mood..."

Florinia spoke out which Alice knew as sarcasm. "That is one of his few veritable competencies."

She looked at Alice, who was still trying to calm her nerves down. "Hey, c'mon, Alice it wasn't that bad, right?"

Alice didn't know how is it that Julia found the aftermath of an explosion to be a 'happy mood'.

She just blushed at the embarrassing situation she is in now. Alice held up a hand to Julia's direction. "Just...just give me a minute."

"Well, okay..." Julia said reluctantly.

In a minute or two later, Alice had finally be able to finally stand up, now that her heart rate and breathing is even.

"...I think I'm fine now." Alice said, but not completely true either. She is still somewhat scared of another explosion happening.

Julia clapped her hands and smiled. "That's good to hear, Alice!"

"I shall be departing as well, the police requires my assistance in other areas." Florinia cut in.

"Huh?" Julia tilted her head at Florinia. "Why leave so soon, 'Rini? We should party!"

"Obsidia requires further investigation and a party is unnecessary, only hinders." Florinia stated again.

"Obsidia?" Alice knew of the ward, at least in direction anyway, but still she wanted to know. "What's going on over there?"

Florinia moved to answer, but Julia beat her to it.

"Oh that's right!" Julia snapped her fingers. "It's about those giant plant things right?"

"Correct. I will attend to that now." Florinia nodded.

Alice frowned. She knows that the police blockaded the areas for some reason. What she didn't know is that it actually involves this 'giant plant' like Julia said.

She wanted to know what's going on, her curiosity got the best of her, but still, she is sensible enough than to barge through a police blockade. She has no desire to be on the police's blacklist. Perhaps it was wise to not get involved this time when police are around.

So Alice just nodded toward Florinia's way.

Julia seemed down at that, but quickly smiled again to her friend nonetheless. "Well, okay ̴ Thank you for your help anyway. At least we get to hang out ̴ since you're really busy most of the time. Just like old times, right?"

Alice looked at the two, now knowing they were from the same school. But the question stills stands. How is it that Florinia and Julia came to be friends? They both seems to be polar opposites.

"And equally destructive, correct." Florinia finished, still with the same monotone expression.

Alice had to smile a bit at that. Florinia had said something she had to agree with.

"However," Her musing was cut short again when Florinia continued. "Sentimentalities remain counterproductive."

Now Alice had to frown. Did Florinia just say what did she think she just said?

"Alice?"

Shaking her head, she looked at Florinia, who now focused her attention towards her. "Yes?"

"Did you perhaps observe the terrain-variant effects during the operation?"

Again, Alice's mind was brought back to the area where she had blundered, forgetting about the terrain effects of the area, the factory field.

Alice nodded without hesitation.

Florinia continued. "Then you should already be aware of some aspects of Field Effects."

Alice did remember so she nodded. But that mistake was somewhat embarrassing still. To think she actually forgot about the most basic thing for Reborn challengers. Again, she blamed herself for being too focused on the raid.

In her musing, Florinia simply continued. "Recently many trainers have been documenting the specific attributes of each environment and what effect they may have during combat."

Alice nodded in approval. Frankly, that's what she would have done as well. In order for one to succeed in Reborn, one must be aware and take into accounts of the numerous field effects.

Then Florinia held up something for Alice to see, a USB Drive. "As such, I have created an application to catalogue these attributes and effects. If you would perhaps allow me to install the beta version into your Pokegear?" Florinia held out one hand, expecting said device within any second.

Alice looked at Florinia's outstretched palm and back to her. While there's no reason for her to think that Florinia might try to trick her, she couldn't help, but ask. "Why only beta? And why now?"

"Ame have realized the difficulty that Reborn may offer to challengers, this is especially true for those who have not hailed from Reborn. And as such, as of recently, we have decided that an application for the automatic classification of Field Effects is necessary." Florinia answered without a pause.

Alice once again, nodded. True enough, Reborn can be such a big surprise to those aren't prepared. Much to her embarassment, she still gets surprised even when she had read what to expect from it's official website. Ame's decision to add these applications might not be a bad one, in fact, it's a wise one.

And so, she pulled out her PokeGear, and placed it on Florinia's outstretched palm. She could use such application to herself. "Then here you go."

Without much word, Florinia sticked the USB Drive on the part on the side of the PokeGear then opened the lid. She began tinkering with it, almost the same way that Fern had done so with the panel.

Unlike Fern, however, it was done in just a few seconds. She was presented back her PokeGear. "It is done."

Taking the PokeGear back and inspecting it everywhich way, she found nothing of note. Then she opened the lid and turned the device itself on. There it was, there's an icon that seems to be based on a mountain and the text below that says 'Field Effects'

Florinia continued, not done yet with her explanations. "As the current version is beta, we cannot provide the full list of Field Effects to be found in Reborn. However, a small population has already begun recording data for this application. Expect your device to be updated automatically at numerous intervals in the future. We also ask you to collect additional information with the help of these people or by finding environmental read-outs that may have been extracted at various locations for the purpose of assisting other trainers. Once you have found any new information regarding environmental Field Effects, your device shall record it automatically and copies of it will be sent towards other trainers bearing similar devices. As of the present, the only data I have is of the Electric Terrain. Use it wisely."

She had smiled, Florinia wasn't such a bad person. She helped installed such a helpful application after all. One that could record any new Field Effects she encountered then broadcast to other trainers so they will know what to expect.

"Thank you." Alice said.

Then Julia piped into their conversation. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, 'Rini. Back up! Did you say Electric Terrain!?"

Alice was...silenced. She only briefly glanced at Julia and already she knew what her problem was. Florinia had given her some heads-up about the possible terrain of the one she is planning to face after this. Possibly Julia's own terrain.

As such, Julia puffed out her cheeks in indignation. " 'Rini! How could you!? That's for MY Gym!" The cheerleader pointed at the other woman, almost in accusation. "Are you trying to give Alice a lead on me?"

For Alice's part, she wasn't complaining. This way, she can review on what she knows about the Electric Terrain. Experts needs to go back to the basics sometimes, after all.

"At any rate," Florinia cut in. "I will report today's proceedings to Ame. Farewell."

The green-clothed woman then proceeded to walk away, without so much as a glance back.

Julia was still indignant, for her part. " 'Rini!" She ran after Florinia then stopped short near the train tracks, even as the other woman starts to gain more distance. "You know, if you're gonna sass me, at least do it with some feeling!" She shouted.

Looking at the Pokegear in her hand, Alice frowned. When she thought about it, perhaps it wasn't all that bad.

Florinia had given her a device that may allow her to record any future fields that may factor in some of the combat she had. Plus, she was given a freebie in the form of Electric Terrain notes.

Again, while she had read, it would be good to review some of the basics once in awhile to make sure her knowledge is up to par.

Alice had to smile, at least she had gotten something out of this whole raid. She had pretty much completed her original purpose of scouting out the entire gym for any weaknesses. The question was on how to deal with it...that is provided Julia didn't wise up and changed the terrain somehow.

"Hey, Alice! You there?"

Only then Alice realized Julia was waving a hand frantically in front of her face. She shook her head. "Sorry, what was it?"

Julia sighed. "Well, as I was saying..." Julia glanced back at the direction Florinia's gone. "She's never been the same since..." She trailed off.

Alice had to raise an eyebrow. Of course, part of her knew that. One doesn't have a speech pattern like an AI without reason. It has to be something that had happened.

"Well, nevermind!" Julia shouted almost immediately, causing Alice to take a step back in surprise. "I haven't thanked you for your help! So thank you, Alice. For your help today! You were great, you know that!?"

Despite her whole, initial apprehension of the thing, suffice to say that her raiding group did better than what she had expected.

Alice nodded. "It wasn't a problem."

Julia then rubbed the back of her neck akwardly. "And uh, sorry if all those 'boomies' scared you. I just couldn't help it, you know?"

Alice sighed, supposed she will have to be satisfied with that. "Just don't do it again around me in the future."

"No problemo!" Julia exclaimed. "Now that my gym isn't gonna randomly blow up, I'm gonna head back there now... Although if it did blow up that might be fun too."

Suddenly, Alice had some apprehension about going there.

Seeing the look on Alice's face, Julia immediately waved her hands frantically. "No, no, no, no, don't worry. I'm not gonna do that with you around."

Alice just nodded.

"Okay! I'll be waiting at my gym! Sooo," Julia turned toward the tracks and bounded across the street, then turned back toward Alice's direction and waved energetically. "See you soon, Alice!"

Then she was gone.

Alice was silent for a bit, then she sighed. Like it or not, she would have to go to Julia's gym eventually and no amount of stalling would prevent it. She will just have to deal with it in due time.

Now, however, was time for preparation. "...it's time for some training." Turning her head toward the direction she knows as the subways, despite the building blocking her views, she moved there with a determined gaze.

There's much training to be done.

The Nurse Joy attending the counter in the Peridot Ward Pokemon Center was bored, like every other day, but it was a job that her family had taken so she had to at least take pride in it.

Still, thought, she couldn't help it. Healing the Pokemon of every trainers out there that happens to be passing by tend to get tiresome sometimes.

As such, the sight of a quiet and crowd-less Pokemon Center was Arceus-sent most of the time. In those rare moments, Nurse Joy can actually for once can be herself and take momentary respite.

At the very least, she still got paid by the governing body of the region thought, even though she and her sisters worldwide offers free-of-charge services for any wounded Pokemon.

Then she heard the double, glass door sliding open. Nurse Joy put up her 'game face' quickly by smiling. "Hello, trainer! Welcome to the Pokemon Center of Peridot! How may I help you?"

Alice stepped inside, and found the entire center to be...quite a refreshing sight to see for once. It was like a safe haven. Being in a possible life-threatening raid and training in the same area for many hours tend to do that to you.

The entire Pokemon Center was...a bit empty if she may be allowed to say. You would think in a world where Pokemon Trainers are a common place, the entire centers in a region up and down the coast would be crowded with every single trainer out there.

But in a way...she had understood, Reborn was not a very friendly place to be at night. She knew that now.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Shaking her head and breaking herself out of her musing, she regarded the Nurse Joy behind the counter with a small smile of her own. "Sorry. I want to ask something."

"Yes?"

"Are there any available rooms for the night?"

 **Author Note :**

Yep, teleportation. I had to give an explanation somehow. I mean, there are multiple instance in-game, where the good guys had the villains dead to right, yet somehow just let them walk out the front door? And the screen did usually go to black sometimes before the Team Meteor disappeared, so I do think that hints on teleportation.

Still, that was intense for a first encounter against Meteor. This game is no joke for anyone playing it. No time for rest as the gym is coming up next.

Stay tuned for it!


	8. Chapter 7 : First Gym Challenge

Alice woke up to the sound of ringing.

Cracking open her eyelids, she starred in annoyance at the source of said sound in front of her, in the form of a ringing PokeGear. Grunting, she reached forward onto the bedside table with great effort and slapped her palms onto the PokeGear and silenced it.

As much as she doesn't want to, ringing only meant one thing, and it is time for her to wake up as a new day had arrived

Today is the day, where she would be visiting the yellow-painted Power Plant where Julia resides. That is where she would battle Julia and earn her first badge of the region.

Now, with less hesitation, she pushed the bed covers aside and stood up, about to get ready for the day.

"Good morning, Miss Winthrop." The Nurse Joy bowed at the customer in front of her, smiling like usual. "Would you like to Check Out?"

Alice simply nodded as she slapped the total of the one-night rent onto the counter. "Yes, please." Then she reached into her pocket and slapped down something additional. "And the keycard to my room as well.

As the hand removed itself from the Pokedollars on the counter, Nurse Joy had more than enough experience to do a mental count of the visible money to know enough that it is the same amount as she had requested. But still, out of politeness sake, she took the money and began counting again, who knows if she missed one or two bills.

A quick count founds that it is enough to cover for the trainer's expenses. Looking at the table, there's also the keycard for the room she had spent the night in.

Nurse Joy nodded. "Everything seems to be in order. We hope you enjoyed your stay." Nurse Joy gave the biggest smile she could and bowed. "Please come back anytime!"

Alice simply nodded, looping her bag onto her shoulders once more, she turned around and headed toward the exit.

As the double sliding doors to the outside world parted aside, Alice found herself once again assaulted by the rays of sunlight and had to cover her eyes.

Thankfully enough, she was able to get used to it relatively quick and found herself looking at the familiar, dreary place that is Peridot Ward buildings that stretched on for blocks.

And for once, the entire city was still deserted. She found there was one or two people miling about most of the time, but most of these seems to be street bumps. It seems she had woken up quite early.

That suits her needs fine really. That way if there's any challengers heading for Julia as well, she'll be first in line. But that's assuming they didn't wake up even earlier than her.

Without much of a word, Alice turned left from the door, remembering from previous experience that this way is a straight line towards her destination ; The Power Plant.

As she walked, she couldn't help, but feel that her nerves began gnawing at her psyche as this would be the first time she will be facing off against one of the leaders of a brand new region. Not to mention, this will be quite difficult compared to the most.

Alice knows she didn't need to feel nervous, as she had trained as hard as she could last night for the remainder of the day, after the raid on Mosswater. Then before she had slept, she made sure to review the notes given to her by Florinia about the Electric Terrain. Feeling nervous might just ruin her chances of victory, it wouldn't allow her to think clearly.

She shook her head, tried to clear her mind from any thoughts of defeat against Julia. Normally, Alice wouldn't feel like this at all, she would feel confident instead.

But again, this a brand new region, with rules that normal regions doesn't even have regularly. Not to mention, Julia might wise up and suddenly change the terrain on her, one of the reasons she felt nerveous.

As she had always done when she is nervous, she took some deep breaths and put her right hand over her chest. It wasn't the time to feel all nerveous, it's time to be confident instead. Not overly so either, that would lead to defeat as well.

Then she looked up.

Fortunately enough, in her musing, she hadn't bumped into someone. And again, fortunately, she had almost ran into a wall. Her eyes widened in surprise, then she sighed in relief, fortunate enough that people hadn't seen that display of stupidity just now.

Turning around, she walked down the road again just for a bit then turned right at the opening at the fence. The Power Plant looks imposing, and her nerves once again tried to assault her mind.

Forcing it down with another deep breath, she stepped forward, eyes lit up with determination. "Let's do this..." Alice muttered, and the double doors slid open.

Entering the area proper, Alice had to blink. Was there supposed to be a shutter in front of her?

The opening area consist of a gateway being barred by some annoyingly familiar shutters, almost like the same one in Mosswater Factory. Then there's the way to the right, leading off to somewhere.

Finally, there's this panel sticking out from the floor to her left. It seems to be blinking on and off, almost inviting her to put her palm onto it.

Other than that, nothing of note...except for some purple banners adorning the walls just near the ceiling all over the place.

Even Alice knew Julia's handiwork when she sees one.

But she had no time to play around with some panels nor does she want to possibly break it really. So she moved forward to inspect the shutters.

"Hello?"

Alice stopped short at the voice. Glancing back at the panel, she knows for sure that it had to have come from over there, judging from the semi-mechanical voice.

"Hello! Are you there, trainer?" The voice droned out from the blinking panel. "Please pick up!"

Now Alice knows for sure that it had spoken just now, possibly some other people on the other end. Now properly curious, she walked over to it and stared at the blinking screen. What was she supposed to do now again?

Alice had to raise an eyebrow at that. That wasn't very clear. What does this mean by pick up? Does she press her palm onto the screen and just speak? Or was it just to speak up like normal people?

"Hello, again!" The voice came again for the third time, halting Alice's train of thoughts. "If you are there trainer, please pick up! This is the Reborn League Administration Speaking."

Deciding to try it, and hoping she won't break anything, she put her palm onto the rapidly blinking screen. Looking at the panel, Alice was surprised it had stopped blinking the moment she put her palms onto the screen. Good thing too, her eyes are starting to hurt.

The panel once again, spoke up, only this time with a completely alien voice based that of a woman. "Reborn League Challenger, Alice Winthrop. Access Granted."

Alice knew it had checked her credentials or something. It seems the panel won't just activate just for anyone. It's probably keyed to Reborn League Challengers. That was an...interesting application.

"Uh...please remove your palm from the screen now, if you would, challenger."

As the panel spoke up again, Alice realized she still had her palm firmly planted on the screen. She quickly removed the palm from the screen. Alice had to blush a bit at that.

"Alice?"

Now Alice finally had enough sense to know that it was her name that was being called. Taking a look at the monitor, she saw a familiar white haired woman with a scarf now taking up the screen.

It was without a doubt, a real-time video call from Ame herself with the background revealing it's still within the insides of the Grand Hall. It's only been a day since Alice saw her last, but it's still good to see her nonetheless. It's been quite hectic after all.

So Alice cracked a small smile. "Hey, Ame."

Ame smiled back, but then her tone turned back to an all-business one. "Hey again, Alice. So I see you've made it to Julia's gym?"

"Yes," Alice answered immediately, but that also begged for another question. "How did you-"

"The panels will immediately give us any notification if a Challenger enters the building of any known gym leaders and we will attempt to raise trainers this way." Ame immediately answered.

And once more, that raises even more questions that needs answers. "What's this all about, then?"

Alice saw Ame smiled. "Consider it a bonus, but we, the Administration decided to give trainers a few tips on how to best the gym leaders all around the region. Or at least I do."

Ame's role in this instance was quite similar to how gym guides worked in other regions. This time is much more futuristic. Alice wasn't complaining about the free tips thought.

"So," Ame continued and brought Alice back from her musing. "Would you like some tips, or would you like to tackle the gym on your own power? Whichever your decision is, we are to respect it."

Alice had to consider that. Her mind says to take the free tips while it lasted, but again, her 'challenger' mind would decline. A part of her still wanted challenge after coming out all the way here.

But again, it wouldn't hurt. It might calm her nerves a little as well. And the tips would be a great thing to tip the odds in her favour in just a little. It's not like she knew Julia's team, so it will still be a challenge.

So Alice nodded. "I'll take it." She said simply.

"Very well. Alright, listen carefully now." Ame gestured onto the screen.

And she did, Alice blocked out everything that isn't Ame. Including the whirry noise in the background.

"Now, before I begin." Ame held out a palm placatingly. "As you might have already noticed. The telecom system you accessed right now connects straight to the Grand Hall. So wherever you are, you will get a call from us, and that is me, whenever you enter an official gym building. Ultimately, however, it is up to you whether or not you pick it up."

Alice nodded, she stored that information for future usage.

"Anyway, it's time to move on to Reborn gyms in general. Since this is the first time I've seen you from this telecom system, then this is your first gym battle in Reborn, right?" Ame had asked for confirmation.

Alice just nodded. "Yes, it is."

"You wouldn't mind if I run off some things with you again? For reviewing sake. It would be my responsibility to take care of any Challengers, after all."

Alice nodded, reviewing wouldn't hurt, as she already thought to herself a day ago.

Ame smiled, nodding in understanding. "Then I will begin. Julia's team would have to be compensated in order to approach the level of new challengers. But I warn you," Ame held up a finger, a severe frown caressing her expression. "As you may have already noticed from the adds, lowering herself to your level doesn't necessarily mean that she is in anyway easier. Reborn's Gym Leaders are still a little tougher than other regions'."

Again, Alice nodded. She knew this already, but a warning to her wouldn't hurt. She doesn't want to fall into a false sense of security after all now that Julia will use a weaker team to make up for her own.

"For instance," Ame continued. "Every leader has a full team of six Pokemon, they can also make substitutions as well. Not only that, but they also use special arenas, called Field Effects, for tactical advantages. If you want to survive in Reborn, you should get used to learning and playing in these Fields! If I were you, I would find ways to turn some of the opponents' arenas against themselves!"

Alice already did so last night, she read about Electric Terrain after all. At least, she thinks she can turn the field around against Julia, at the very least she knows what to expect. Now she hoped Julia didn't switch terrain just because Alice knew or something like that.

"Now, let's move onto to Julia's Field Effect. Electric Terrain." Ame took a deep breath then spoke again. "Her Electric Terrain will make all of her same-type attacks even stronger, this spells bad news as Electric-types moves will be boosted already due to possessing the same type as the users. Those moves will be boosted twice for extra power."

Alice winced, even she knows better than let her Pokemon get hit with something of that magnitude in power, especially Pidgey as she found out the hard way in Mosswater. This makes dodging attacks all the more necessary for survival.

"Not only that, it may add a jolt to some other attacks like her explosions."

Then Alice went ramrod straight. Did Ame just say...explosions? She shuddered internally at that, not only she has to deal with Electric Terrain boosted attacks, now she had to deal with Electric-type Explosion too?

"Alice?" Said trainer heard finger snapping from the direction of the panel. "Are you there?"

Shaking her head, Alice took some deep breath. Explosions or not, she'll...just have to deal with it...provided her heart didn't leap out of her chest in the meantime.

"I'm here."

"Right, well, let's continue shall we?" Ame saw Alice nod and she does so. "It's standard fare, but if you have something that can tank Electric attacks, you're almost home-free. Failing that, your best best is to come in with a full team, and hopefully some Pokemon with high vitality may be able to stall her out while you whittle her down. Slowly, but surely."

That was...what Alice was planning to do actually. If this regular tactic of her fails, then she will come back with the force of a six-Pokemon party in order to stall Julia. But with Ame's recommendation, that might just work.

"Alright! That's all I have to say to you. I can't exactly tell you what's Julia's team for opponents that is just starting out." Ame said, then giving Alice a thumbs up. "Good luck anyway! Mind your step, and you'll do fine, Alice."

Those words of encouragement were like blessings from Arceus himself. When trying to calm yourself down doesn't work, the encouraging words of someone else's tend to have it's magic working on you in a flash.

Alice couldn't help, but smile at the white haired woman. "Thank you, Ame."

"Anytime." With that, the connection was cut short, replaced with a blank screen.

Alice took that as her cue to move forward.

"...what am I supposed to do with this?" Alice wondered, slapping a palm onto the shutter, producing a loud rattle.

Usually, some gyms offer puzzles for any challengers to solve before confronting the gym leaders. This seems to be no exception. Again, though, she doesn't know what were she supposed to do here. Was she supposed to find keys to open it or to break it down?

Thinking about it, for a moment, it doesn't take much time for her to decide it was probably the former. She doesn't think the gym officials are going to appreciate her breaking down shutters just to access the path straight for the gym leaders.

With a sigh, she took a look toward her right and went down that way. Perhaps there's something in there that's waiting for her, it's the only way that weren't blocked after all.

The right path leads to a short corridor that ends with a familiar Pokemon of red and white in color staring at her. A Voltorb

Alice stopped straight at that sight, she doesn't want to get anywhere close near anything that is quite volatile in nature. She still had her fear of explosions running about after all.

Perhaps this Voltorb guards the passageway to a key? Or is it the one who carries the key itself?

But surprisingly, the moment the Voltorb saw her, it rolled towards her direction.

Alice's hand immediately reached for a Pokeball. Voltorbs are known to be a bunch of walking...or rolling volatiles waiting to explode in your face. And she had enough of explosions to let this one get close to her.

The Voltorb saw this and stopped rolling, putting some distance between itself and the challenger. Seeing the challenger getting all alert at it made it frown. How was it supposed to do it's job if every single challenger is alert the moment they saw it anyway?

Alice was...a bit confused, especially at why the Voltorb just stopped a few distances away from her? Then it shook its...head?

Pokemon are intelligent, sometimes more so than humans. It seems it saw her going for a Pokeball and promptly shook its head as if to placate her.

Still, Alice had enough of explosions to let her guard down. She, however, stopped fingering the Pokeball on her belt.

Seeing this, the Voltorb rolled toward her again. Alice had to bit her lip to stop herself from backing way instinctively.

Once it was right at her feet, the Voltorb stared up at the challenger with an expectant look on it's face. Otherwise, it hadn't done anything else.

Alice was a bit confused at this development. What was the Voltorb supposed to do rolling towards her like that anyway? Again, she thought it was supposed to be guarding some sort of key.

"Voltorb." She bent down and looked at the round Pokemon. "Are you perhaps guarding the key for this shutter puzzle?"

"Vol!" It nodded.

That answered the question, perhaps a battle is inevitable. "Then we should do-"

"Vol, Voltorb!" It promptly shook its head, then rolled around her and heading straight back toward where where she came from.

Once again, Alice was confused at this. What was the Voltorb supposed to do if it wasn't going to battle her?

Nonetheless, she followed the Voltorb anyway. As Alice rounded the corner, she saw the Voltorb again, this time, stopped before the shutter that had blocked her path.

What was the Voltorb trying to do?

...then it dawned on her.

"Wait! Vol-" Her warning came too late as she saw the Voltorb flash white.

BOOOOM!

The ear-splitting bang assaulted Alice's ears, but that wasn't what she cared about right now. She was more concerned about getting away from the explosion with the last second dive and putting her arms against her head for further protection.

The explosion went on like an eternity for Alice. She didn't know how long she had been on the ground like that, but it's not like someone is watching her right now.

She waited for several more seconds just in case. Seeing there's no rubbles or incoming shrapnels coming to assault her being, she cracked open her eyelids and dared a peek behind her.

The Voltorb was still there, now with soot all over from the Self-Destruct. And the shutter that blockaded her path is now history.

She grumbled at the fact that Julia had to use explosions for her puzzles. For sure thought, she is starting to hate Julia's antics and her explosions. One day, someone is going to get seriously injured at this rate.

Alice got up reluctantly and dusted herself off. At least no one was around to see that shameful display.

She checked the now, thoroughly roasted Voltorb now that is probably very well unconscious by putting her palms on it. Alice still felt body heat, so she guessed it's still fine. Pretty much any Pokemon who had done Self-Destruct or Explosion are fine afterward, if a bit crispy.

Alice sighed, hoping that perhaps there's no more of these explosions puzzles...but that's probably hoping for a little too much.

"...let's just get this over with." She muttered mostly to herself.

She walked through the hole where the shutter had been...and found herself blocked by another shutter.

Alice sighed, she knew this means she probably have to find another Voltorb. She looked to her left, the path this time that isn't blocked by any shutter so she immediately took that.

Once again, she found another Voltorb waiting for her down the path. As soon as it saw her, it began to roll toward her, only to stop short when the challenger immediately put her hands up at it.

"I know what you are supposed to do Voltorb, but please let me stay away from you before you Self-Destruct near the shutters, alright?" Alice said, her tone all business-like that will not take any arguments from it.

The Voltorb seems crestfallen at this, as it was hoping to show it's explosion to any challengers that need it's help to pass through.

Seeing that, Alice sighed, but she won't back down still. "Sorry, I just don't like explosions at the moment. Let's move on."

The Voltorb nodded, perhaps it can live with that. It's not the challenger's fault if she is afraid of explosions, is it?

It rolled forward and pass Alice before rounding the corner. The blonde trainer plugged her ears with her finger then turned around, and waited for the tell-tale signs of explosions coming.

Sure enough, there was a flash of white and a muffled explosion followed.

Once she was sure there will be no more explosions, she walked forward before peeking around the corner. The scene from the first explosion was similar to this one. The charred Voltorb is knocked out, and the shutters are no more.

At this rate, Alice couldn't help, but feel sorry for the Voltorbs that are made to be walking gunpowder for any passing challengers.

But again, she wanted to get this over with and get as far away from anything that says, 'explosion'. So she moved on, through the nicely down hole in the shutter and into the next area.

Again, there's another shutter blocking her path and another path to the left, this time, leading to the right.

And once again, another Voltorb is waiting for her.

The same thing happened once more, it tried to roll toward her, 'tried' before Alice stopped this one the same way she did with the last one.

She put her hands up and began to speak. "I will say this again, the same with the last Voltorb. Please, let me stay away from you before you blow up the shutter, is that alright?"

The Voltorb just stayed in place for a bit, then simply nodded it's head. It rolled towards then pass her before disappearing around the corner.

Alice plugged her ears again and made sure to stay as far away from the corner as possible.

Again, came the flash and muffled explosion. The same routine happened, Alice peeked around the corner and saw another poor Voltorb Self-Destructing to create a path for her.

Just what is with Julia and her explosions is something that is beyond Alice. She couldn't really believe someone could have some sort of obsessions with explosions, let alone a girl.

Sighing, Alice walked towards the hole. She stopped only briefly to put a hand on the unconscious Voltorb before walking through. To no one's surprise, yet another shutter awaits.

She was getting tired of seeing shutters.

However, Alice could briefly make out the sight of a doorway on the other side of the shutters thought. She becomes hopeful. Perhaps this could be the final one?

But her expression frowned as she had to find the final Voltorb that is up to the task. Alice would have her Pokemon to tear it apart instead...but that probably wasn't allowed. Worse, Julia might refuse to be challenged if she doesn't 'appreciate' explosions.

Some gym leaders are colorful, indeed.

As much as she doesn't like it, she will have to...deal with it. So she looked to her right and found another path.

And so, she began trudging down the hallway before rounding around the right corner.

However, this time, she had to blink. The Voltorb is waiting for her, yes, but there's also someone with a lab coat standing in her way.

He is holding a Pokeball, a refreshing sight to see from all those shutters and explosions.

Alice instantly knew what she must do.

She stepped forward before stopping a few distances away from the black man. Her hand is tense, ready to grab a Pokeball at a moment's notice.

Then he spoke. "Alright, challenger, you should know that I can't let you get to the last Voltorb without a battle."

Alice just nodded, again, she wanted to get this over with.

Seeing the resigned look in the challenger's eyes as well as the frown, the techie couldn't help, but sigh. "Sorry about all those explosions by the way. It wasn't my idea for a puzzle. I don't even know why the League Administration even allows her to do this."

Alice nodded again, she felt his pain working here. This place spits in the face of everything called 'safety procedures'. This was supposed to be a power plant for crying out loud, not a place for volatiles materials or Pokemon!

"And again, I don't know why the administration even allows her to use this abandoned power plant to house a gym, this place is dangerous. But I suppose that comes with the fact there's no building left in the city that could house a gym with a puzzle. The other power plant is practically abandoned."The Techie continued complaining.

Alice just resigned herself to listen, this was actually a lot better than having to have a minor heart attack every time an explosion is about to happen.

Then techie sighed. "I could keep running my mouth about Julia and the gym on and on for an entire day." He held out a Pokeball out in front of him. "But that's not what we're doing here, is it?"

Alice shook her head. "No." She pulled out her own Pokeball for the occasion.

"Alright, we battle then! This is a mere test whether or not you are worthy to face Julia. Therefore it's a simple one-on-one. Agreed?" When he saw Alice nod, he pulled his arm back and threw. "Shinx!"

Out from the Pokeball, came a familiar lion cub. Half of it's fur is blue and the other lower half is black. It's tail extending out until it ends into a star shaped pattern.

Alice's choice of Pokemon is obvious to her. Pulling an arm back, she threw her first Pokeball for the day. "Liepard, it's time!"

From the Pokeball, came what used to be her Purrloin, but only now evolved. The feline daintily dropped onto the floor and licked her paws for a moment before staring at the enemy in front of her. She couldn't help, but let out a purr.

The Shinx just hissed.

"Shinx, start this out with Spark!" The techie commanded.

The lion cub obeyed, charging straight toward the Liepard as little sparks of electricity began to cover it's being.

Seeing as this probably counts as another Field Effect, Alice eyes narrowed. "Dodge, Liepard!"

The Liepard simply stood in place as the Shinx began to get dangerously close to it. As the distance became mere inches away, the Liepard stepped aside, causing the Shinx to overstep.

"Shinx, look out behind you!"The Shinx quickly had it in mind to find balance quickly and tried to turn around.

Alice would have none of that. "Liepard, Fury Swipes!"

The dainty Liepard turned around and lunged. All Shinx knew at the moment was in fact it was scratched furiously all over, especially the face. It couldn't help, but shut its eyes and yelp in pain every time a blow is landed.

"Spark! Now!"

Hearing it's trainer's command, the Shinx charged it's fur full of electricity in Liepard's face.

This stalled out the Liepard's furious swiping, causing her to yelp as sparks suddenly struck her fur and forcing her to step backward. She hissed at the Shinx for daring to ruin her fur.

Alice raised an eyebrow at that. Perhaps she could use this tactic for later.

But for now, there's battle to be done. She pointed at the Shinx. "Liepard! Growl!"

The Liepard meowed as cutely as possible. It had the intended effect as the Shinx suddenly becomes unsure if it wants to harm such a cute existence and thus, letting its guard down.

"Now, Pursuit!"

The Liepard gained a specific, evil glint in her eyes as she lunged forward, a sucker punch is necessary for an opponent who let it's guard down in front of her.

This time, the Techie is one step ahead, however. "I don't think so! Baby-Doll Eyes!"

Then the Shinx mustered itself to be as cute as possible in the face of its adversary. Despite a Dark-types are supposed to be pragmatic, Liepard couldn't help, but hesitate momentarily. The Liepard shook her head and struck out anyway.

What could have been a powerful blow was weakened by her hesitation. The shinx grunted at the Sucker Punch initiated by the Liepard, but it was sent merely skidding back a few feet.

"Counter attack time! Shinx, Spark!"

"SHII-" the Shinx howled as he lunged toward the vulnerable Liepard with electricity sparking all over it's body.

The Liepard was still recovering from her landing, then she saw that a lion cub was dangerously close to colliding against her in a Spark attack. Her eyes gaining a determined gaze, she side stepped deftly, the Shinx passing by a little bit too close for comfort. The stray sparks catching her in the fur made her hiss in pain, however.

Alice couldn't help, but smile at Liepard's deftness. Just like they had practiced all night yesterday, dodging without her command. In a Factory Field, home field advantage for all Electric and Steel-types alike, dodging is mandatory to avoid a powerful blow.

Alice could hear the Techie growl for a moment there. "Shinx, this time, Baby Doll Eyes again!"

"Sand Attack!"

Just as the Shinx turned around, it's vision got assaulted by dirt. This caused Shinx to double over, trying to wipe its eyes free from the offending substances.

Clenching her fist, Alice commanded. "Fury Swipes again! Finish it off!"

"Shinx, Spark!"

"Aim for the tail!" Alice countered.

Before Shinx could put up it's Spark cover to stall, it couldn't help, but let out a yowl of pain as something scratched it's sensitive tail. That was all the Liepard needed for her retaliation and began swiping again without mercy in sight.

The Shinx dropped onto it's knees, giving the Liepard one last look before collapsing, thoroughly unconscious.

The Liepard is satisfied that the offender to her fur is now unconscious. A bright red beam recalled the feline back into it's Pokeball. Alice nodded at the Pokeball in satisfaction, proud of her performance.

Red beam recalled the unconscious Shinx back to it's Pokeball also "Alright," The techie stepped aside while absentmindedly pocketing his Pokeball then flicked his head toward the Voltorb. "The Voltorb is yours. Good luck with Julia."

As the Voltorb rolled toward Alice, she nodded. "Thanks."

The Voltorb stopped in front of Alice, and again, she said the same thing like the previous three Voltorbs. "Alright, do your thing Voltorb, but let me stay away from the explosions, alright?"

The Voltorb just nodded, it's not the first time it had seen trainers who are afraid of explosions after all. It rolled away pass Alice and around the corner.

For hopefully, the final time of the day, Alice plugged her ears with her fingers and waited. The usual routine occurred with the muffled explosion.

Once there are no more explosion, she peeked around the corner and found the shutter is well blown apart like usual, the poor Voltorb now unconscious.

At least the puzzles wasn't so hard...if a bit nerve-wracking.

So, after all that, she is standing before the doorway leading towards Julia. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside.

The moment she stepped through the doorway, she was instantly assaulted by bright lights flickering on and off on various parts of the floor.

Well, it wasn't so bright, as it is starting to get painful to look at. Except one straight line in the middle, almost every single tiles seems to be replaced with electrical panels that seems to flicker on and off at various intervals in the color of yellow.

On the other side of the room, massive supercomputers took over the majority of the wall. Alice wouldn't make such a fuss over things like that due to this being a power plant. What she would make a fuss about was the numerous banners hanging from the left end of the screen to the right end that says 'Kaboom!"

And then there was the gym leader herself, standing on the other side of the room.

"Hihi, Alice!" Julia waved from the other side. "Welcome to the Super-Duper Ultra-Hyper Electro-Dazzle Happy Boom-Time House of Cheer! And I see you made it back here too!"

Alice rolled her eyes, she is surprised how she made it too without having a heart attack. "Yes, I'm here."

"Yeah, sorry about the 'booms'. I know you don't really like the stuff." Julia rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "But I couldn't change the gym puzzles overnight, you know?"

Alice just nodded. She supposed she can work with that. Stepping inside proper, she took her position at the other end of the numerous electrical panels.

"Eh, you know what." Julia waved her hand dismissively. "Just ignore all the superlame machinary junk. That's more 'Rini thing."

"What I need in the future is more banners! Oh, and streamers! And...hmm..."The cheerleader was deep in thought, before snapping her fingers as the idea came to her. "Fireworks! Wait, is that a safety hazard?"

Alice had raised an eyebrow. Julia having a realization of such things was alien in the time the blonde trainer knows her.

But her hopes were dashed when Julia just shrugged. "Who cares about that boring stuff!? 'Booms' are fun!"

Alice had to resist the urge to facepalm. Clearly 'safety hazard' was just a passing thought for someone like Julia.

"But anyway," Julia then put on a serious look, both hands on her hips. "Don't think I'll go easy on your just because you helped us out yesterday! I have a pride to uphold!"

Alice wasn't even looking for a pity party nor does she want it. She is in Reborn to look for a challenge. If a gym leader was to hold back, then she wouldn't feel satisfied with her victory at all.

So Alice just nodded, pulling out a Pokeball. "I know." She said simply.

Julia nodded firmly, out of place for a hyperactive woman like her. "Then you should know, as a former captain of the cheerleader team, the Onyx Trainer's School's honor depends on me!" Pointing at herself, she continued. "OTS, we represent, we pack a punch and don't relent!"

Alice knew there was a trainer school somewhere in Reborn City. After all, she read the adds while she is applying as a challenger. She probably have to visit the institution one of these days.

Before she can continue with her musing, Julia jumped up and down somewhat excitedly. "Alright, alright, alright! I'm wired and fully charged! Are we going to do this, Alice!?"

Just as she said that, the electrical panels stopped flickering about and all turned on. Just as those had done that, electric sparks starts to jump around the tiles and the field all around. In an instant, the entire place took on a bright yellow tint.

Alice's eyes gained a determined glint in them. This was it. Her first battle against a gym leader of an alien region. She had trained all night for this occasion, playing out every scenario in her head as she goes. Defeat was not an option, only victory is!

Once more, Alice nodded, this time much more firmly.

Julia couldn't help but grin. "I'll explain the rules then. So listen carefully now! All-out battle! Substitutions limited only to three times! The first one to lose all Pokemon is the loser. Got that Alice!?"

Julia spoke too quickly for Alice to register all of it, but she got the gist of it. So she nodded.

Satisfied with Alice's determination, Julia yelled. "Let's fight!"She pulled out a Pokeball, then threw it. "Helioptile, I'm counting on you!"

 **Author Note :**

The long awaited first Gym Battle is here. Sorry for the long wait, real-life got in the way again. Well, it's done now, hopefully I can keep up with the deadline again next time.

Well, writing the...puzzles had been interesting to say the least. Though I certainly would've loved to just have straight-on battle with the gym leader like anime does. It's a bit annoying to write.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy!


	9. Chapter 8 : First Gym Leader, part 1

"Helioptile, I'm counting on you!"

Just as Julia had said that, a familiar electric lizard dropped down onto the floor. It's scales shooting up all around it's neck to resemble an umbrella briefly.

Alice's choice hadn't changed in a bit. It's time to sent her out again. "Liepard, it's yours again!"

A familiar Liepard emerged from the thrown Pokeball, dropping down onto the floor and looked toward the lizard in anticipation. It's time for her to shine again.

Alice decided it's her turn to open matters. "Liepard! Pursuit!"

In anticipation of her leap, Liepard bend down low, legs tensing in preparation. As if she is a spring uncoiled, she bounded toward the lizard to unleash another sucker punch.

"Oh no, you don't! Thundershock the cat!" Julia commanded with a firm tone, out of place of her established hyperactive attitude.

The little yellow lizard promptly unleashed what should have been a tiny Thundershock, instead came something akin to a Thunderbolt and was coming at the Liepard dangerously fast.

The Liepard quickly threw herself aside as per her training, but to her unexpected surprise, the Thundershock was faster than any other she had encountered before. The grazing of her side produced the smell of ozone that tickled her nose and sent her tumbling aside from the powerful, but grazing blow.

"Liepard!" Alice yelled.

Julia wouldn't let an opportunity slip by her. "Alright, Helioptile, Thundershock again! Make it bigger!"

Helioptile began charging up power, static electricity drawn to it like magnet in preparation to unleash a Thundershock worthy of Thunder itself. Liepard, meanwhile, was in the midst of recovering her senses, but seeing the lightshow from the corner of her eyes reminded her of the danger of not recovering quickly enough.

"Alright, Helioptile. Time to 'boom' her!"

"Dodge, Liepard!"

Just as the big Thundershock launched from the Helioptile to Liepard, the feline was wise enough to move out earlier than expected, and thus, no further grazing occured.

"Alright, Liepard! Pursuit, again!" Alice commanded.

With a meowrl of determination, Liepard leaped toward the Helioptile with certainty in her eyes this time. It won't be able to get away a second time.

Julia yelled out, while clenching her eyes shut. "Helioptile, get away!"

Contrary to Liepard's expectation, her sucker punch hit nothing but empty air. She only saw too late that the Helioptile had skittered out of the way at the last second and was now at her vulnerable side.

"Now, Thundershock!"

The Helioptile then gave Liepard the shock of it's life. Alice had to cover her eyes at the massive light show, she couldn't see, but she could hear the meowrl of pain Liepard kept going. When the light show ended, Alice dared a look at where Liepard was. It was there, in the same position, except now in a pile of charred fur.

"Liepard!" Alice yelled out in worry.

She cursed to herself for being so careless, of course, gym leaders of Reborn are not to be taken lightly just like any everyday trainer. Those Thundershocks came fast and powerful, a deadly combination, not to mention the way Helioptile skittered aside reminds her that it is well-trained. That was her mistake and one she won't be doing again.

But for now, she had to make sure Liepard is alright. "Are you alright, Liepard!?" Alice yelled out again, if this doesn't work, she will have to give the round to Julia.

Then she saw the pile of fur twitched. "Liepard! C'mon, you're not finished yet!"

That seems to have an effect on the feline. With great struggle, it got up again, legs shaking so wildly that it resembles rubber. But she made a show of pride and hissed at the Helioptile

Any more similar attacks that Liepard took would, in all possibility knock her out for the count. Or not, if they got lucky, but even then, Liepard would be on the brink of defeat that they might as well forfeit the round.

"Uh, are you sure your Liepard is alright, Alice?" Julia asked uncertaintly, not wanting to continue the round if the opposing Pokemon is clearly out of it.

Alice heard that and observed Liepard. It had glanced back at her for the moment and shook it's head. The blonde trainer sighed, it seems it still wants to go on.

Alice nodded.

Julia looked at Alice with an uncertain look, but nodded back anyway. "Oookay. Don't blame me if your Liepard got injured big time! Anyway, Helioptile, one more should finish it!"

Just as the Helioptile was about to unleash another boosted Thundershock, the opposing trainer countered. "Sand Attack!"

Suddenly, all it could see was dirt flying straight into it's face. It yelped when his eyes is covered in those invasive substances.

"Now, Fury Swipe!" Alice ordered.

And Liepard is all too happy for some payback at the lizard for harming her like this. She leaped and struck the Helioptile repeteadly across the face with her claws as hard as she can. She will not take being shocked like that, especially by a tiny lizard.

"Helioptile!" Julia yelled out, but that does nothing to stop the onslaught of claws on her poor lizard's face. "Do Pound on the paw! Very hard!"

The Helioptile couldn't see, but it could at least know that Liepard was in front of it and just Pounded like it's trainer commanded as hard as it could. It seems to have struck something.

The Liepard yelped, her face was forcefully turned aside as the sudden slap caused her to briefly stall out the assault.

"Alright!" Julia cheered, fist pumping. "The cat's in front of you! So Thundershock!"

The Helioptile was still trying to recover it's bearings, but at least it knows that the Liepard was still in front of it. And it charged up a Thundershock.

Seeing this, Alice yelled out as hard as she could. "Duck!"

Liepard, this time, ducked down low. And as she had wisely done just a few moments ago, she ducked early. Just in time for a massive Thundershock to whizz above her head in all it's glory leaving faint traces of ozone for her to smell.

Liepard couldn't help, but smirk, now this gives her a chance for counter attack. A sentiment that her trainer shared with her.

"Liepard! Growl!" Alice commanded, clenching a fist. "Then Pursuit!"

That was her cue, Liepard 'meowed' as cutely as possible. She was sure she could see the Helioptile seems to sway backward a bit at the cute noise she was making, it's guard down.

With the assistance of her strong hind legs and paws, she pushed forward as hard as she can, one forepaw out. As the distance was somewhat closer, there's almost little to no loss in power. The Helioptile was sent tumbling about backward , where it lay unmoving just beneath Julia's feet

"Helioptile!" Julia yelled out toward the unmoving lizard. "Are you alright!? Answer me buddy!"

A few more seconds had passed, the motionless body has yet to twitch. Julia sighed at that, it seems this round was her loss.

"Oh, poor Helioptile." Sulkingly, Julia pulled out a Pokeball and returned the unconscious Helioptile into it for later treatment.

Then she stared at Alice with fire in her eyes. "Don't think you've won yet, Alice! I've still got five more!" Julia pulled out her second Pokeball and promptly threw it. "Don't let me down, Voltorb 1!"

Alice had to raise an eyebrow at that. Were there two Voltorbs in her team? Or maybe three? She do know that she have an Electrode thought, was it that one?

Her thoughts were forced to go back to the battle when Julia suddenly barked an order. "Alright, Voltorb! Chaaaaaarging!"

Alice felt her heart almost leap to her throat. Now for sure she knows that Liepard won't survive the next blow if it hits, no matter how much yelling she does. Dodging is all, but necessary for this phase. She must be economical in this battle no matter what, as three Pokemon is all she have.

And now, seeing as the Pokemon Charging is vulnerable, it's time to utilize that vulnerability a bit. "Sand Attack! Blind him!"

Liepard agreed, digging her paw as hard as she could onto the tiles, she swipe dirts toward the Voltorb. Due to it in being in the middle of a charge, it struck true, digging into it's ever scowling eyes painfully. Lack of hands made it unable to wipe the sand stuck onto it's face.

"Oh no! Voltorb!" Sticking out her lips at Alice, she pointed at the Liepard. "Ooooh, you'll regret that. Charge Beam!"

The Voltorb briefly opened it's eyes, just briefly enough to know where the Liepard is. And it unleashed an unnervingly fast beam of electricity towards her.

Again, Liepard is wise enough to actually stick around until the last second and she sidestepped earlier.

Julia actually jumped up and down in frustration at this. "Oh, that's it, you stupid cat! Sonic Boom the cat!"

The Liepard only had enough time to look surprise before the Voltorb unleashed field wide literal sonic boom at her that sends her flying. She could have sworn she had hear eardrums bleed at the moment.

Alice actually had to wince at that. Wide attacks like that tend to be annoying to deal with.

Looking at Liepard, she got up, but she flinched and almost crumbled at her own weight at the moment. Alice thanked Arceus that Sonic Boom's damage is somewhat fixed and not completely lethal. But one more blow, and she is done for.

"Oh, c'mon!" Julia steamed, indignant. "What did you feed to that cat, Alice!?"

"Training all night." The blonde trainer answered, she seeks victory, but not to the extent she would use drugs.

"Wh- but- you." The cheerleader sputtered, but she ultimately just shrugged. "Whatever...Charge Beam again, Voltorb 1!"

"Sand Attack!" Alice countered.

Just as Voltorb fired the Charge Beam, the same offending substance that assaulted it's eyes had been joined by more. That caused it to flinch and the Charge Beam just barely missed the Liepard who had to flick her head aside lest she want to get bald.

"Now, move forward!" Alice commanded.

Liepard duly did so, bounding forward to meet the Voltorb head on.

Julia smiled while wagging her fingers. "No, no, no, no, bad kitty! Sonic Boom, Voltorb 1!"

Julia's Voltorb unleashed another one of those deafening Sonic Booms to stop the feline in it's track.

Alice anticipated that one and yelled out. "Liepard, jump up!"

Bounding forward just once, she jumped up and over the wall of Sonic Boom coming her way. But she hissed as she felt her hindpaw got grazed. She sure got grazed all day today, much to her annoyance.

Julia could only gape, even as the Liepard landed behind the Voltorb.

Alice had no time to thank Arceus again for making Sonic Boom so weak to that it's not exactly very tall height wise. She'd rather use that time to again, push her luck.

"Liepard, Fury Swipes!"

Julia shook herself back into the real world upon hearing that. "Voltorb, dodge that!"

The Voltorb rolled forward at alarming speed, the Liepard went after it in an instant. She kept trying to scratch at the retreating ball, while said ball desperately trying to keep itself from made into a cat's toy.

Unfortunately, Liepard is faster. She had caught up and leaped onto the ball with deadly precision. It was forced to stop as the feline dug it's foreleg onto it while her hindlegs dug onto the ground and trailed behind her.

She smirked as she began scratching the Voltorb's backside.

Julia wouldn't let that happen again, however. "C'mon, Voltorb 1! Spark!"

At the close proximity the Liepard is in now, she was forced to endure yet another one of those boosted lightning charges. The electricity traveled into her as she acts as a lightning road.

"Liepard!" Alice screamed in worry, even as the Voltorb continued discharging even more electricity into her. All she could hear was yeowls of pain from the feline.

After only a few seconds, the Voltorb was done. Liepard collapsed onto the floor.

Alice sighed, now sure that Liepard is permanently out of the match. Pulling out her Pokeball, she returned the cat. "Liepard, return." Staring at her Pokeball, she smiled, it did good.

Pocketing her Pokeball, she pulled out another one. It's time to finish what Liepard started.

"Pidgeotto! It's yours!" And Alice threw it, once more revealing the bird of prey for everyone to see.

Pidgeotto cawed as he landed on the currently, yellow-tiled floors and appraised his opponent carefully. As it is Electric-type, he knows he must tread carefully now.

While Alice and Pidgeotto doesn't seem somewhat concerned with their situation, Julia on the other hand was a little unsure what to make of this development.

"Uh, okay, Pidgeotto." Julia looked at Alice a little uncertainly, what possess her to pull out a Flying-type against her? "Are you sure about this, Alice?"

Alice just nodded simply.

"Well, your funeral. Anyway," The cheerleader pointed at the Pidgeot. "Voltorb 1, Rollout!"

Alice wasn't somewhat surprised at that, even as Voltorb began rolling toward the Pidgeotto. All the avian did was take flight backward and remain there, as Voltorb passed right underneath it.

"Bad birdie!" Julia exclaimed. "Voltorb, bowl him out of the air!"

To Alice's surprise, the Voltorb threw itself upward and toward the Pidgeotto, who cawed in alarm at the suprisingly aerial ball. Nonetheless, it still came slow enough that Pidgeotto had enough sense to dodge aside, leaving the ball to fly by him and drop down onto the floor again.

It's time for counter-attack. "Pidgeotto! Quick Attack barrage!"

Before the Voltorb could turn around and try his chances once more, he felt something struck his face, causing him to bowl backward almost wildly. Just as he starting to recover his bearing, he felt his side being struck and again, he bowled to the right. The process began repeating itself for the last three seconds as Pidgeotto remain as the fastest thing in the room as of right now.

"Voltorb 1!" Julia yelled out as hard as she could. "Spark!"

Narrowing her eyes at that, Alice will not fall for that trick again. "Stop!"

Just in time, the white blur that is Pidgeotto stopped just short of colliding with the electrified Voltorb. He cawed in surprise at the fact he almost turned into a fried chicken. But how will it get through that Spark now?

"Now Gust! Stall him out!"

Pidgeotto nodded, perhaps that will do the trick. Doing as his trainer commanded, he let out a gust of wind. Sure enough, the attack struck. While it is not very effective against the likes of Electric-types, there Spark barrier became no more as Voltorb flinched at the blow.

"Again, Quick Attack barrage!"

Pidgeotto is all, but too happy to oblige. He dove forward, once more a blur and began striking out at the Voltorb at every angle imaginable before it could regain it senses.

The Voltorb tried in vain to try at least fry the bird, but it simply couldn't. Everytime he tries, all he got for his trouble was something that struck and rolled him down him over in some direction before he stopped. And it's getting weaker every second.

"Noooo," Almost out of nowhere, Julia pulled out a Pokeball. "Voltorb 1 Return!"

The wounded Voltorb was promptly returned to it's domain, even as Pidgeotto whizzed past the spot where Voltorb once were. He cawed in confusion briefly, before realizing the opposing trainer must've called it back.

Alice, meanwhile, had raised an eyebrow at that. She didn't know that was possible for gym leaders to pull of here. Perhaps it's all about different rules again?

Alice simply had to ask. "Julia." She called out.

"Yeah?" The cheerleader looked up at Alice, who she sure called for her name. "Whassup, Alice?"

"Can Gym Leaders make substitutions too?"

"Sure do!" Julia nodded somewhat enthusiastically. "Everyone get to make substitutions in Reborn! Pretty cool, huh?"

Alice didn't know whether to surmise that as cool or not. All she knows right now that is a bit of an inconvinience to her.

Nonetheless, she just nodded. "Alright."

"Well, anyway," Julia pulled out her third Pokeball. "I'm sending out my third Pokemon! Ready, Alice?"

Alice nodded. She knows whatever it was, at the very least it has to be part Electric-type.

"Weeell," Pulling her arm back, Julia threw her third Pokeball. "It's time to glide! Emolga!"

As Julia said, a winged electrical squirrel that is Emolga emerged from it's Pokeball and landed on the tile. Pidgeotto remained in the air.

"Alright, Emolga!" Pointing at the Pidgeotto somewhat accusingly, Julia said. "You're gonna teach that birdie a lesson, you hear?"

"GA!" Emolga declared, with a firm expression.

Pidgeotto don't know what to make of that. He was just fighting like any other Pokemon, he knew he didn't deserve that one.

"Get him, Emolga! Thunder Shock!"

"Dodge! Now!" Alice yelled frantically.

Almost as soon as Julia's and Alice's command came, both Pokemon moved into action. All it takes was a few tiny sparks from Emolga's cheek sacs and a massive Thundershock flew.

Pidgeotto, with the forewarning of his trainer, dodged to the side early. He cawed in alarm as the electricity brushed off the edges of his tail feathers dangerously close.

Alice had to sigh in relief, Pidgeotto avoided that one barely. She will not have what happened to Liepard happen again to someone like Pidgeotto.

Therefore, she had to make a few changes."Alright, Pidgeotto, Quick Attack for maneuvers only, don't touch Emolga in anyway. Gust is your only means of attack!"

Pidgeotto looked at his trainer and nodded, facing at the dumbstruck Emolga again as he flew in place.

Alice looked at Julia and she sworn she could've seen the frustration in her eyes. It seems she had figured out what the cheerleader is up to right on the spot.

The blonde trainer knew it seems Julia chose well so she had to give the cheerleader some credit. Emolga probably had Static somewhere in there, making touching her inadvisable in any form. Hyperactive she maybe, but she is still a gym leader. Therefore, a skilled trainer.

As it is, she is planning to end this round in her victory. "Pidgeotto! Gust!"

Pidgeotto unleashed his signature gust of winds at Emolga. Said squirrel made almost little to no attempt to dodge at all. True enough, the wind struck Emolga and it was sent hurtling back, but not much and it quickly recovered as it is part Electric-type.

Alice wished she had some Rock-type moves right now.

Again, she knows she just have to make do with what she have. If she is careful, she can still pull off a victory.

"Quick Attack! Pidgeotto, get closer!"

Cawing in affirmation, Pidgeotto became a blur, closing in toward Emolga's original position at lightning speed.

"Well, Alice!" Julia suddenly declared. "You're not the only one who can use Quick Attacks to do that!"

Alice was almost dumbstruck at the declaration as she was focused more on the battle than at Julia. What did she mean by that? Then her eyes widened as it took no time to figure it out.

Julia simply stuck her tongue out. "Alright, Emolga, you know what to do!"

The Emolga do, and suddenly it became a blur, much to Alice and Pidgeotta's surprise. And said blur began closing in on the Pidgeotto at dangerous speeds.

"Spark!" Julia commanded.

The squirrel came out of her Quick Attack, already veiled in electricity and ready to collide against the bird of prey.

"Get out of the way, Pidgeotto!" Alice warning came loud enough to be heard and the white blur that is Pidgeotto dodged aside, but that only brought a little time as the Emolga turned around to try again. "Fly away!"

The Pidgeotto decided that retreat is better part of the valor and retreated.

"No, you don't Quick Attack! Get after the birdie! Thundershock too!"

The Emolga cancelled it's Spark in favor of Quick Attack and went after the Pidgeotto with the fury of Thunder, sending out Shocks toward the Pidgeotto's way

Alice knows perhaps she can use this to her advantage. "Evasive maneuvers, Pidgeotto! And Gust behind you!"

The avian duly did so. He began zig-zagging randomly as they flew. Every so often, Pidgeotto would unleash one mighty wingbeat that signalled the appearance of Gust. It struck the Emolga who's gliding right behind it some distance away. While it do some damage, it also had a side effect of making it even more annoyed.

The bird and the squirrel began flying around the room in what appears to be a one-sided pursuit. Emolga kept on pressing her luck as she attempt to shock the avian while Pidgeotto kept on zig-zagging with Quick Attack while flying away.

Alice knew it was only a matter of time until Emolga fire off a lucky shot thought. Looking at Julia, even she knows that appareantly judging by her expression. So she had to think of something quickly, one attack is all julia needed to remove Pidgeotto from this game.

Then she saw Pidgeotto happened to skim low over the tiled floor with Emolga following close behind.

That give Alice an idea. "Sand Attack!"

In the midst of the chase, Pidgeotto seriously had enough of the Emolga, even as his mind focused only on not trying to get fried. However, it had enough sense to know when his trainer commanded him to do something.

So, as hard as he could, he skimmed his right wing on the tiled floor and swiped some dirt the Emolga's way.

The Emolga just had enough sense to barely avoid the almost point blank Sand Attack at it's face. That would have been dangerous for flyers like it.

In the time it had taken for her to dodge, Pidgeotto was upon it again, descending like the bird of prey he is.

"Pidgeotto, twister Gust now!"

With the minor help of gravity, Pidgeotto pulled back both wings and unleashed one mighty wingbeat, again and again, each time harder than last.

All that awaits the dumbstruck Emolga was the big twister that it had the unfortunate thing of gliding right underneath. It struck.

The downward twister drove the Emolga onto the floor. The hard tiled floor made no attempt to hide it's displeare toward Emolga even as it is under the mercy of the twister, continously driving it onto the floor as Pidgeotto wouldn't let up.

Luckily, the Emolga's trainer was there for it. "Emolga, quick, Spark!"

The same display that had assaulted the then, Pidgey came at Alice again as the twister lit up like a Christmas tree.

A minor spark struck Pidgeotto in the chest, that was all the incentive it needed to back off a considerable distance from his own twister.

Without Pidgeotto to maintain it, the twister died down quickly, revealing the bruised and battered Emolga. Ineffective or not, Alice knew that had to hurt. Being driven to the floor hard with something like that tend to do that.

"Emolga, you alright?" Julia shouted, and to her relief, her Emolga glanced at her and nodded. "Okay, well, Chaaaaarge!"

Alice would have none of that. "Pidgeotto, Whirlwind!"

The blonde trainer could've sworn she saw Julia's eyes bugged out at that and her jaw hung low. But she was helpless for that one.

Pidgeotto heard the command and unleashed a mighty wind that sent the Emolga hurtling back toward Julia. As it did so, a red beam recalled it from Julia's belt and another came to take it's place. Another Voltorb as this one appears to be uninjured from the scratch Liepard made.

Alice sighed in disappointment, she had hoped she can bring out the same Voltorb from before so Pidgeotto can finish it off. In a way, this will have to do for now.

Meanwhile, Julia was still in the midst of recovery. "But...but..." She sputtered, trying to say something

Alice simply waited there as Julia recovered, which didn't take long surprisingly to her.

"Rrrrr." Julia growled before somewhat composing herself. "Right, it doesn't matter. I'll do this with Voltorb 2!"

"Alright, Voltorb 2! Bowl the bird with Rollout!"Julia commanded.

Again, the second Voltorb rolled forward quickly and threw itself towards Pidgeotto's direction in an attempt to collide it's body against him.

"Gust!"

Pidgeotto, unsurprisingly, just unleashed another Gust. Ineffective, to no one's surprise, but the trajectory of the aerial ball was halted in mid-air.

That was when Julia's plan came into motion. "Charge Beam!"

Alice's eyes almost bugged out at that. "Pidgeotto! Quick Attack out of the way!"

To Pidgeotto's luck, Charge Beam, like it's namesake, requires a little bit of charge time before it can be flung to your opponent. Pidgeotto managed to Quick Attack out of the way before the Charge Beam could fry him, instead, grazing his right wing bone this time, causing the bird to hiss at the pain.

The recoil of the Charge Beam, meanwhile, sent Voltorb flying backward to Julia's side of the field.

Alice knew chance when she sees one, especially when Pidgeotto is in the middle of Quick Attack. "Play Pinball!"

"Uh...what!?" Julia said in alarm.

Pidgeotto duly did so, charging toward the sailing Voltorb and struck it in the face with a minor Quick Attack that sent him flailing backward toward the supercomputer. Before it could so much as land against the screen, the blur slid behind him and struck him forward once more, then downward, then upward again.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Julia shouted in indignation, the sight of her Voltorb being made into a soccer game is appalling.

Alice sighed, she didn't know what to be found on cheating like this. She didn't know anything that is illegal in anyway. She was simply being creative in the face of disadvantages. But again, she decided to remain alert rather than think about it, Julia could counter attack at any moment anyhow.

The Voltorb didn't know which way is up anymore, and which way is down. It was way too dizzy to actually get his bearing back. Being made into an impromptu pinball is not helping either.

Julia has finally had enough of the bird playing around with her precious Pokemon and so she made her command. "Voltorb 2, Spark!"

"Back off!"

Just in time for the Voltorb to veil itself in electricity like it's brethren, Pidgeotto managed to change his trajectory at the last second, but leaving unscathed was not on the agenda at the moment, however, as the leading edges of Pidgeotto's left wing brushed against the Voltorb's main body.

Pidgeotto gritted his beak as the minor electricity traveled through his body, but kept on flying anyway as he knows stopping could mean he would become a literal sitting duck. That doesn't made it any less painful if only due to his being part Flying-type.

The Voltorb finally dropped down onto the floor with a thump now that no one is going to play juggle with it.

"Voltorb 2! Answer me, buddy! That birdie didn't hurt you, did he?" Julia yelled at the top of her lungs to get her Pokemon's attention.

The answer she got was that the Pokeball-shaped Pokemon wobbling back and forth.

"Noooo, Voltorb 2! Snap out of it, buddy!" The cheerleader shouted, in vain as she ball continued to shake back and forth.

Alice saw this as well, was it confused? If so, that was a bit unexpected, but not completely unwelcome either. Then she knows it's time for counter attack.

"Pidgeotto, again, Quick Attack!" Alice commanded, clencing her fist in response.

The blur that had been travelling around the room revealed itself in front of Alice before he charged again at the Voltorb. It struck the confused Voltorb in the face and sent it sailing backward again toward the supercomputer.

As the Voltorb about to struck the screen, Julia shouted. "Voltorb 2! Rollout off it!"

Alice was actually surprised at the suddenness of it even as she saw the Voltorb bouncing off the screen and sailing toward her Pidgeotto this time. He was so surprised that he was literally bowled over succesfully for the first time.

The Pidgeotto let out a minor 'ooff' as he landed on the floor on his back. But what is most concerning is that the Voltorb, still a bit confused from what he can gather, is standing right on top of his chest.

Now that Pidgeotto is right underneath the Voltorb, Julia couldn't help, but grin. "Spark, Voltorb 2!"

In the face of such situation, Alice could only grit her teeth. But luckily, her mind came toward the solution in a flash.

"Whirldwind!"

Pidgeotto heard his trainer and flung his wings forward as hard as he could lest he'll get fried. A violent wind current sent the ball-shaped Pokemon flung backward, turning back into a red energy as it did so and forcefully sucked back into it's Pokeball.

This time, the one who appeared to take it's place, is the same Voltorb as the one both Liepard and Pidgeotto fought before. All the bruises and scratches seems to be an indication of that.

"Ooooh, not again!" Julia shouted in frustration once more, just when she had Pidgeotto in her grasp. And now, her first Voltorb is sent out, much to her chagrin.

To Alice, this is a good opportunity to finish what Liepard had started. "Quick Attack, again!"

Again, Pidgeotto flung himself off the floor with a powerful beat of his wings and charged at Voltorb again, intending to knock it out before it can be switched out.

Julia already wised up enough to the trick. "Spark!"

Again, Pidgeotto was forced to halt his immediate trajectory as the opposing Pokemon had veiled itself in electricity. Any attempt to touch would no doubt turn it into a literal fried chicken.

However, Julia is far from done. "Don't let it go off, Voltorb! Keep doing that, okay!?"

Voltorb nodded back at her and surprisingly, kept the electricity cover on.

Alice couldn't help, but click her tongue in annoyance. It seems Julia figured out a good counter for such Quick Attack trick. Thought, Alice figured she has yet to figure out another counter for harrassment.

Alice wouldn't dare make it too obvious thought. "Again, Gust! Pidgeotto!"

Hovering in place, Pidgeotto unleashed another minor wind current of his signature Gust, hoping that it would stall out the Spark for him to actually do some good with Quick Attacks again.

The Gust struck true against the Voltorb, but that hardly made it budge an inch. Not even his Spark electricity so much as flickered.

"Ah, ah, ah, no, can do, Alice!"Julia smirked, wagging her index finger as she is doing so. "That won't work on me again! Charge Beam, Voltorb 1!"

It took a momentary charge and the beam fired off. Pidgeotto had still enough senses to dodge early again, causing the beam to go wide. He wouldn't dare approach the Electric-type Pokemon all on his lonesome unless his trainer wills it.

Alice made her move. "Approach it with Quick Attack!"

The Pidgeotto approached the Voltorb with another Quick Attack, once again becoming a mere blur to untrained eyes.

"Spark again! Voltorb 1!"

That was the opening Alice needed to reveal yet another secret weapon. "Sand Attack!"

Before Julia could so much as yell out in surprise, Pidgeotto skimmed low as it fast approaching the Voltorb and swiped a sand dust across it's eyes as Pidgeotto banked aside at the last second.

Just as expected, the violent substances assaulting the Voltorb's eyes was enough to make it flinch, therefore, the electricity that covers it stalled out for a moment.

That leaves an opening for Pidgeotto to exploit. "Quick Attack, finish it off!"

Pidgeotto wouldn't waste his chance now that her trainer had made it happen. He banked around hard, fixing his trajectory straight toward the still flinched ball-shaped Pokemon and charged straight ahead as hard as he could.

Julia was frantic. "Voltorb 1, c'mon Spark!"

However, before he can execute the move, the white blur that is Pidgeotto collided against his right side, sending him sailing backward and colliding against the left wall of the room with a painful thump of flesh against steel.

The ball slid off the wall, back to the ground and rolled forward, revealing his eyes that seemed to have rolled upward.

It is unconscious.

For some reason, Alice still couldn't breathe any easier. Julia is down two Pokemon, but she still have four of them. All Alice have to ease her nerves was that two of Julia's Pokemon is severely weakened.

"Weeell," Alice looked back at Julia, who shrugged. "Guess that's my loss this time." Pulling out a Pokeball, she returned the unconscious Voltorb.

Pidgeotto landed in front of his trainer and waited for his next opponent. But already, he is getting tired of using all those Quick Attack. Pokemon or not, no one's stamina is infinite.

Alice looked down at Pidgeotto and saw this too, he is getting tired. She could see that as clear as day when the bird of prey is struggling to breathe right at the moment.

She knows Pidgeotto's going to lose this next round is all possibility, one way or another. But she won't have Pidgeotto go down without a fight regardless.

Thought, Alice found it a bit strange, especially that Julia didn't try to just switch it out with something else on the first go. Perhaps she knows what is the blonde trainer's secondary objective if the first one fails? That is to weaken a number of Julia's Pokemon?

"Hey, Alice," Her musing was cut short when Julia suddenly called out her name. She looked up and found Julia had already chosen her next Pokeball. "Quit daydreaming! We got another battling to do, aren't we?"

Nodding, Alice took a look at Pidgeotto once more and sighed. She will just have to deal with it for now. Her last Pokemon are simply last resort, she cannot switch again no matter what.

"Alright, then," Julia pulled her arm back and threw. "Blitzle, go!"

Out of her fifth Pokeball, came a tiny zebra with a mane styled after a lightning bolt. It snorted and pawed at the tiled floor with it's hoof, ready to fight.

Alice simply looked on impassively. Thundurus or not, Pidgeotto won't go down without a fight.

Once more, Julia decided to start off the round. "Blitzle! Flame Charge!"

The Blitzle came in unnervingly fast than what Pidgeotto expected, cloaking itself in a wall of flame while it does so. Once it had closed the distance, it had leaped, ready to charge head on into the bird of prey.

Without command of his trainer, Pidgeotto moved aside, but hissed when the wall of flame that is Blitzle grazed his chest painfully and caused him to stumble backward. Pidgeotto is getting tired, even he knows that. He was getting sluggish enough that he can't even dodge right just now, if the grazing blow was any indication.

Alice grimaced, for now, she knew she had to do something unless she wants her Pokemon to take an unsightly beating.

"Gust!' Alice commanded.

Pidgeotto turned toward the still sailing Blitzle and unleashed another Gust to give it some bruises.

It struck, but did nothing else. The only indication it even struck that Blitzle had a momentary grimace.

"Oookay, Blitzle. It's time for a 'BOOOM!' Shockwave!"

Alice eyes widened in surprise. Did Julia just say 'Shockwave'?

As Blitzle landed gracefully, it turned around on it's four hooves and narrowed it's eyes as it began to charge up electricity, evident by the sparks all over it. Then without warning, it fired a blast of electricity from it's body, that began expanding bit by bit.

Pidgeotto was helpless, this much Alice and himself knew. So they both just sighed and surrundered to the Blitzle. As the blast of electricity collided with the bird of prey, it discharged into the fragile body of Pidgeotto.

Pidgeotto went down in flames once more, charred by the massive Electric-type attack. Before he could collide with the floor, a red beam recalled it back into it's Pokeball.

Alice knew Pidgeotto would fall one way or another due to being tired. In the end, Julia still knew what she was doing. She sent out Blitzle for a reason, to take care of Pokemon who moves around too much for it's own good.

Alice looked down at the Pokeball and frowned. While Pidgeotto did wonderfully, she is still left with only one Pokemon. She has to be extra careful with this one.

Pocketing Pidgeotto's Pokeball, she pulled out her last. She must not fail this, as this is her only chance at victory. "Frogadier!" Pulling her arm back, she threw the final Pokeball. "It's yours!"

A familiar, frog-like Pokemon entered the battlefield, landing gracefully onto the floor on all four before standing up and folding her arms. Looking at her enemy, she found that it's a Blitzle. She simply nodded and knows what she must do.

Alice decided to start off things for this round. "Frogadier! Round!"

Frogadier took a deep breath, and unleashed what some could call a horrible singing that would forever haunt their ears. And the soundwaves are fast approaching the Blitzle.

"Blitzle, charge straight through with Spark!" Julia yelled out.

Obeying it's trainer's command, it cloaked itself in electricity and charged. As it approached the Round soundwave, it gritted it's teeth and narrowed it's eyes. It grimaced as he felt it's ears ring as he passes through the soundwaves, but otherwise, it is fine.

And now, he is charging straight toward the ninja frog for the purpose of knocking it out.

Strangely, the Frogadier simply stood there.

Just when the ball of electricity about to collide with the frog, Alice jumped into action. "Dodge aside!"

The space where Frogadier occupied was somehow vacated in that moment, causing Blitzle to stare in confusion. What he didn't notice that Frogadier had side-stepped the charge and was now right on it's side.

"Now! Water Pulse!"

As soon as she could, Frogadier shot her right arm out and fired a powered down blast of Water Pulse straight at the Blitzle's side. It yelped as it is sent skidding backward on it's side.

"Blitzle!" Julia called out in worry at her little pony.

It got up shakily, shaking it's head and mane free from all the water that had soaked it, electricity sparking all over. It was lucky that it's part Electric-type, otherwise, the combination of electricity and water could have seriously hurt it. Those are never a good combination.

Meanwhile, Julia, frankly had enough of Alice's Pokemon somehow keep dodging her attacks for the better part of the battle.

"Right, that's it!" Julia stomped down on the floor hard as she pointed. "Shockwave!"

Alice looked at Julia in alarm. Looks like Julia had done it again.

Blitzle charged itself with electricity. Then he fired a blast of electricity that quickly expands to cover the entire width of the arena.

There was nothing Alice nor Frogadier could do to shield itself from the blast of electricity. So Frogadier braced itself.

The ever expanding blast of electricity blasted the Frogadier off her feet and landed painfully on her back, static electricity sparked across her being.

"Frogadier!" Alice called out.

The blonde trainer knew that by all accounts, Frogadier should be fine after a little modification to her type...she hoped so at least.

Fortunately, her wish came true when Frogadier slowly stood up again, fighting off the electricity that decided to harass her.

"Whaaaat!?" Julia drawled, literally flabbergasted at how Frogadier stood up again after the Shockwave attack.

Alice looked on toward Julia with a relieved expression in the meantime. Lucky enough that her Frogadier is blessed with the Protean ability.

Again, even with Protean, exercising caution is the best route. Even all the way to being Greninja, their durability haven't increased in the slightest. They will still probably fall down to two or three attacks.

As seen with her Frogadier as she looked rather beat up already even from the neutral hit from the twice boosted Shockwave.

"Hey, that's cheating! Wasn't it supposed to go down!" Julia pointed her finger at the Frogadier somewhat accusingly.

Alice is not going to let herself answer that one. She figured the gym leader should at least figure it out herself, just like she had to on the way over here. Alice knew she is not cheating whatsoever.

"Whatever!" Julia finally decided. "Alrigh, Blitzle, it's beat up! Shockwave again!"

Alice would have none of that. "Quick Attack! Clothesline!"

Frogadier disappeared in a blur, appearing right in Blitzle's face, much to it's surprise. This surprise allows the Frogadier to held her right arm out and struck out at Blitzle, clotheslining it perfectly.

The Blitzle fell to it's back with a grunt, meanwhile, Frogadier grimaced at having to go physical again. That hurt her arm.

Julia opened and closed her mouth, struggling to form some words. That is until she shook her head and growled. "Oh, c'mon, even that doesn't work! Shockwave!"

Blitzle jumped back up to it's hooves and began charging up again to punish it's offender.

Again, Alice would have none of that. "Quick Attack!"

Something kicked the Blitzle in the side, causing it to stumble. Then followed by another, another, then another. This causes the Blitzle to stumble back and forth.

Seeing that Shockwave won't help her, Julia tried another tactic. "Quick Attack yourself!"

That it did, becoming a blur just before Frogadier could struck out again. Frogadier stared in confusion at the vacated space. Then she felt something hit her in the back, causing her to go tumbling forward, but she went along with the momentum and rolled back to her feet.

"Frogadier! Don't stop!" Nodding, she Quick Attack herself and began to clash with the other blur in earnest.

The clash went on several times in a row without any sign of stopping. Now it's just a matter of who will overpower the other.

Alice knew that Blitzle will ultimately overpower her Frogadier. In the end, it's just doesn't have the physical prowess to go toe-to-toe with another foe. Maintaining distance is necessary for it.

So she quickly tried to think of some idea to break this stalemate, before it breaks her Frogadier.

Adrenaline forces Alice to think quickly, and she does found a way in just a few second.

"Water Pulse the floor! Underneath!"

Frogadier wasn't in the right state of mind to know what her trainer meant by that. In the end, she did what she was told to and fired a quick Water Pulse underneath it before jumping backward.

The water caused the following blur to literally slip and sent itself sailing head over heels across the air straight toward the Frogadier.

This had the unexpected result of bowling her over as well and caused her to sail along with it.

Alice could only wince, but she won't let this opportunity go to waste. "Round! Frogadier!"

Turning toward the sailing Bitzle, she jumped straight toward it with her powerful legs and grabbing hold of the Blitzle. She shoved her face straight at it's ear, she sang as loud as possible down the ear. Then she positioned her legs before kicking off the Blitzle in a graceful flip.

And it crashed into the supercomputer's panel right as Frogadier landed.

The following dust cloud that created obscured the results of said combat. It didn't take long to reveal who was the winner thought. The dust cloud parted to reveal the Blitzle, well within the realm of unconsciousness judging from it's delirious expression.

Alice couldn't help, but smile. Now that Blitzle is down Julia is left with just three Pokemon, two that she knows are severely weakened.

With great reluctance, Julia returned her unconscious Blitzle and she pulled out another Pokeball "Not done yet! We're still just getting started! So go Emolga!" Then she threw it.

* * *

 **Author Note :**

Here we are, ladies and gentlemen, one of the challenges of Pokemon Reborn, a Gym Leader. Honestly put, every gym leader in Reborn is hard for one reason or another. Though I mostly blame that to field advantages really.

Anyway, here's to part 1, hope you guys enjoy for what comes next!


	10. Chapter 9 : First Gym Leader, part 2

It revealed a familiar and bruised Emolga, still reeling from it's battle with Pidgeotto.

The battle that came after was a bit faster than expected. "Frogadier! Round!"

Almost out of nowhere, Frogadier opened it's mouth and unleashed another very loud and a high pitched note from it. The Emolga tried to glide away, it did, but the speed of sound is not to be underestimated, especially in it's battered state.

The moment it turned around to try and glide away, was the moment it got hit by the high pitched note and it's ears began crying out at the painful nose scraping at it's eardrums.

The Emolga went down in a ball of fluff and just laid there unmoving, mumbling something incoherent to both trainers.

Julia just sighed, pulling out Emolga's Pokeball wordlessly. "Emolga, return!"

Alice knew how this will go, not unless she decided to sent out her ace at this moment instead of another one of her weakened Pokemon. She couldn't help, but feel Julia's pain.

But a battle is still a battle, after all. She knows that Julia knows that as well, she is not a gym leader for nothing.

With less excitement Alice wouldn't think possible for a cherleader, Julia threw another Pokeball. It revealed the heavily battered second Voltorb, which dropped down onto the floor and ready for another fight.

Julia wouldn't let this go down like before either. "Emolga, you still got this! Thundershock!"

The Voltorb unleashed yet another one of those Thundershocks like most of Julia's Pokemon. It came unnervingly fast, but again, Frogadier easily flicked her head aside, only grimacing a bit when static electricity stung her ears.

"Quick Attack! Get close!" Alice countered.

The Frogadier disappeared from view.

"Emolga! Spark!"

"Round!"

Just before it could, however, Frogadier showed why that wouldn't work in the form of a blur coming down upon Emolga. It was quickly revealed to both trainers that Frogadier had brought forth her Round straight on Emolga's face. That sound grated it's ears so loud that it swore that it could have bled.

The pain got too much and the Emolga lost all consciousness as it's eyes rolled toward the inside of his head. It began to fall toward the earth

A red beam recalled it back to it's Pokeball, belonging to Julia. The cheerleader look sadly at the Pokeball before pocketing it.

Now they are both down to their last Pokemon. The next round with decide who will be the victor. And Alice knows it better be herself. She came too close to lose now.

Despite her earlier tantrums and frustrations, Julia couldn't help, but bring herself to smile."Wow, Alice. Not many managed to actually get through my entire team. You're impressive, I give you that, ya know!"

The smile, the sudden praise, Alice noticed both. While she found Julia's earlier frustrations a bit of an inconvinience, she, like all people would feel proud if she was to be praised by someone of high status.

Alice just nodded along with a smile. "Thank you, Julia."

"But I still," Pulling out her last Pokeball, she showed toward Alice's direction. "Won't go down without a fight! This is still a gym battle!"

Alice nodded again, she wouldn't expect anything else from a gym leader. Again, she wouldn't feel satisfied if the opponent doesn't give her a good fight even if she won.

"Alright, alright, alright! It's time for the grand finale! Ready, Alice?" When the cheerleader saw Alice nod, she grinned. Pulling her arm back and threw her final Pokeball. "Electrode!"

Out of the sailing Pokeball, came the evolved form of Voltorb. More bigger and more lethal and much more powerful electric sacs. An Electrode.

Frogadier simply looked on at the grinning Electrode. Electric-types or not, she will have it go down before the end of the day. As it is her trainer's will.

Alice bit her lip in slight nerveousness. This was it, she brought Julia down to her last Pokemon. It would be a shame if she somehow fails now, so she have to make sure she doesn't.

Julia, meanwhile, grabbed her pom-poms and made a pose. "Don'tgoboom, don'tgoboom, don'tgoboom, don'tgoboom, don'tgoboom, don'tgoboom!"

Alice...didn't know what to think about that. Nor does she want to, preferring to remain on guard. She can only hope that Julia didn't mean all of that literally.

Pointing at the Frogadier, Julia yelled out. "Rollout!"

Quicker than any of the previous Voltorb, the Electrode almost literally threw itself in an attempt to run the Frogadier over.

"Dodge and counter!" Alice commanded.

The Frogadier jumped aside easily enough, causing the runaway Electrode to miss her by an inch at most. Once she is safe from being run over, she quickly fired a quick Water Pulse that struck the still rolling Electrode's back.

"Electrode! C'mon, Rollout again!" Julia yelled.

Once again, the still rolling Electrode turned around in the direction of the Frogadier in order to try it's luck again at running Pokemon over.

Frogadier readied herself to dodge the Pokemon again as the Electrode closes in like a runaway train.

Alice knew she can pull this off like this. Electrode cannot learn Shockwaves at all, in other words, it has no way to hit the agile and evasive Frogadier. As long as Frogadier can keep this up, victory is within sight.

"Oh no, Alice!"

Alice looked up at Julia, who had just called out her name. "Excuse me?"

"I won't have you defeat Electrode that easily!" Pointing at the Frogadier, Julia exclaimed. "Eerie Impulse!"

Alice could only stare at Julia for that, before promptly snapping her eyes toward the direction of the moving Electrode.

Just as said Pokemon nearly ran the Frogadier over, it had stopped rolling all of the sudden, revealing it's face, and therefore, it's mouth that had been charging for electricity for sometime. Without warning, it fired a weak pulse of electricity directly at the frog.

The pulse of electricty washed over the Frogadier. She reeled back from the electricity, but she is otherwise fine, except for all the tingling in her arm as electricity mostly run through them instead of her body. Thought, however, she could feel her ranged attack power have decreased immensely.

Alice realized that was her own fault, her habit of having her Pokemon dodge at the near last second had allowed Julia to unleash the Impulse with impunity. Point blank attacks executed up close are just nearly impossible to dodge.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that it was her undoing, however. Alice knew she could still pull through.

Julia saw the Eerie Impulse struck, she couldn't help but grin immensely at her success. "Alright, now Swift Electrode!"

"Use your frubbles! To the eyes!"

Now that Frogadier had stopped reeling back from the attack, she quickly grabbed the frubbles that is her scarf and pulled out a sizable chunk of it. And she quickly chucked it.

This had the effect of sticking into the Electrode's face like a glue, especially it's eyes, causing the imminent Swift that was fired from it's mouth to miss the Frogadier wildly. Thought, they had quickly turned aroud to try again.

"Electrode!" Julia called out in worry. "You okay?"

"Now, hide behind it!"

"Wait, wait, wait, what?" Julia sputtered.

Closing her eyes, Frogadier felt the Swift start are closing in behind her back. And she jumped up, landing right near the backside of the blinded Electrode. Without so much as a fanfare, Frogadier pushed the Electrode forward with a kick.

The Swift that had followed had struck their own owner all across it's body in an attempt to

"Electrode!" Julia called out, it twitched and began to look around blindly. To her horror, there are still frubble stuck where it's eyes should have been. "Oh no."

Now with Electrode like that, and the lack of arms to remove it, it would be completely blinded for the rest of the battle. Trying to rid of it by rolling over would work, but it would probably take more than on try as frubbles are quite the sticky susbstance. Alice felt confident enough that it wouldn't be able to retaliate at all that accurately...hopefully.

After the last Eerie Impulse that caught both her and Frogadier off guard, she won't take the chance again. She knew it's time to end this battle as quickly as possible.

"Alright now, Pound! Downward chop!"

Frogadier immediately jumped, arm held back in preparation for a Pound.

"Electrode, she's up there! Charge Beam!" Julia almost pleaded.

The Electrode, however, didn't know where the attack is supposed to come from, so how would it know where to attack? Instead, all it could do is to look around blindly.

Frogadier saw this and moved in for the blow and she chopped downward. The Pound had landed right in the middle of the Electrode's head.

"Rrrr, Spark!"

Wise enough to know when she had overstayed her welcome, Frogadier flipped of the Electrode, almost as soon as it had shrouded itself in electricity again. She landed right in front of her trainer.

Electrode, meanwhile, was still looking around blindly, wondering if that Spark of his struck home against his attacker.

Julia was getting frustrated enough already, that she is literally grinding her teeth. "C'mon, Electrode, Swift!"

Not knowing where to fire, the Electrode stopped rolling about and ended up facing the wall as it fired the homing stars out of it's mouth. But they don't need to be aimed, as they starting to home in on the Frogadier.

"Round! Wait until they get close!" Alice countered.

Frogadier waited, just as her trainer commanded her, even as the dangerous homing missiles that is Swift is closing in on her. Once they were literally only inches away from striking her with all the fury in the world, she opened her mouth and shouted.

The soundwave that occured causes the bunched up Swift to self-destruct prematurely and it traveled onward across the battlefield.

The attack next struck the Electrode, with less power due to the lingering effects of Eerie Impulse. But they had the intended effect of sending the Electrode skidding backward just a bit.

Alice now had a handle of how to Swift work. As long as Swift bunched up like that in preparation for their collision, then taking care of them would be easy.

Julia pouted, the situation seemed hopeless for her. The Eerie Impulse hit sure, but for her troubles, the Electrode is blinded. Sometimes she wished that Electrode had an arm at least. And now she couldn't use Swift to try to at least bring the tempo of the battle back in her favor that Round itself gets in the way. As a soundwave, it doesn't need at all to be aimed most of the time.

Then that left only one thing for her to do.

"Sorry, Electrode! But you know what to do!" Julia called to the Electrode.

The Electrode just nodded.

Alice just looked in confusion, but remaining on guard. What does she mean by that? Did Julia still have another ace up her sleeve?

"Sorry about this in advance, Alice!" Julia apologized from across the arena.

Alice can only tilt her head in confusion at what Julia said.

"Oookay! Then, it's time to go..." Crouching down low, arms at her chest, she was like a spring ready to uncoil itself. The cheerleader then jumped, arms spread out. "BOOOOOM!"

Alice could only have a wide-eyed expression at that.

Looking back at the Electrode, it was glowing. Now her worse fears come true, it was about to literally Self-Destruct. She thought foolishly that it won't have that move earlier.

Alice couldn't help, but shudder and took an instinctive step backward. She didn't want to be near the explosion at all.

Frogadier glanced back at her trainer in concern, awaiting her command. Seeing the fearful expression that her trainer have, she wondered if her trainer was afraid of explosions.

"Fro!" She called out, hoping that her trainer would snap out of it.

"Dier! Frogadier!" She called out again. Unfortunately, Alice wasn't paying attention to her at all.

She looked at her trainer sadly. The Frogadier knew that the rest is up to her, as her trainer is currently out of commision.

Looking at the Electrode with a determined expression, she pulled out yet another chunk of frubbles and began chucking it. Twice, she did it. Thrice, she did it. On and on, she kept on chucking the thing at the Electrode in hopes that it might just reduce the blast enough for her to hold on.

Alice could only hopelessly shudder at the thought of another imminent explosion assaulting her senses and driving them wild. She wanted to back away as far as she could in hopes that the explosion won't hit her again.

"H-hey! What are you doing!?"

She could only blink the next time when she saw the glow slowly, but surely beginning to gradually die out. Alice looked and found out that the Electrode are nearly covered from it's head to it's non-existent toes in frubbles.

Alice saw that the one responsible had been her Frogadier. She kept on chucking and chucking frubbles after frubbles toward the now massive puffball of an Electrode.

The blonde trainer knew that Frogadier had taken the iniative in the time she had been paralyzed by fear. She couldn't help, but felt shame at leaving her Pokemon hanging like that.

She bit her lips just a bit, and clenched a fist. "Frogadier, keep doing what you're doing"

Frogadier glanced back and smiled. It seems her trainer had finally snapped out of it. Nodding, she kept on chucking the frubbles like no tomorrow.

Almost without warning, there was a sound of static electricity sparking within the frubbles that contained the Electrode. Then it exploded.

Ten seconds felt like an eternity to Alice who had dived for cover again. Once she had mustered up enough courage, she opened her eyelids in order to see the carnage that followed.

Glancing back, unsurprisingly, the Electrode, now freed from the frubbles laid on it's back, staring upward into the ceiling with black soot all over. It is unconscious.

Alice took a deep breath and looked at her own Pokemon. The Frogadier was there, near where she had taken position during the battle. It was lying face down on the tile. It seemed to have lacked the soot that Electrode sported, but the electrical discharges that sparked marked that the Electric Self-Destruct struck.

Alice could frown at that, it seems she won't be earning the badge. Draw is not considered sufficient for a badge.

Getting up, she brushed herself off again. How many times she had dove for cover the day before and now, she didn't want to know.

"Fro-"

Then hope sparked in her eyes. She looked up again and found that the Frogadier is getting up.

Looks like it was a success, the explosion radius was reduced enough that Frogadier could survive the imminent impact from the blast. The fact that it had Protean helped. It is not a Water-type at the moment.

Looking back at the Electrode, it was still unconscious. Not one recorded Pokemon can use Self-Destruct and Explosion and somehow still held on.

Alice could looked on in wonder. Does this mean she had won?

"Fro...gadier..."

The trainer looked at her Frogadier and found that she was looking at her with a smile. What Alice didn't expect was to be given a thumbs up.

Alice closed her eyes, smiled and nodded at her Frogadier. They had won, and it wall thanks

Frogadier couldn't help, but be happy at the approving expression that her trainer gave her way. Now she can rest easy, knowing she had drove her trainer toward victory. And so, she collapsed onto her back.

"Frogadier!" Alice called, running forward and checking up on her.

To her relief, the Frogadier was just unconscious. She and all of her Pokemon will need immediate check-up after all this in the Pokemon Center.

Pulling out her Pokeball, she returned the now-unconscious Frogadier back into it. She looked at the Pokeball and smiled, it had done well.

"Huh?"

Only now did Alice remember that Julia was still in the room. Pocketing her Pokeball, she looked back at the Gym Leader.

Julia made an expression that simply says that she hadn't expected that kind of results at all. In other words, dumbstruck.

The cheerleader's shoulders slumped almost as if against her will. "I lost already?"

Alice simply looked at Julia, at this point, she knew about Julia just a bit. She waited for any further...'explosive' reactions from her before she decided to talk back.

True enough, Alice could hear growling from the cheerleader.

"Mrrrrr..." Julia then stomped a few times, eyes clenched shut. "That's not fair!" She exclaimed.

Alice just sighed. This is a battle, she knew there are ultimately only two results. Winner and loser. You just have to accept it if you lose in the end. That's just the reality of Pokemon battling.

Once Julia was done throwing a tantrum, almost as if she had lost her energy, she dropped onto her backside. Alice briefly winced. "Whateverrrr, I'm gonna go take a power nap! That means you too, Electrode!" Pulling out it's Pokeball, she returned it to it's domain until it can wake up.

Alice waited again...and waited until at least ten seconds passes by in a flash. There were no further reactions from Julia until even the twentieth second passed by.

So Alice decided to ask. "Julia?"

"...hmmm?"

"My badge?" Alice finished.

Julia just pouted. "...fiiine." And she tossed something.

Alice saw it and made to grab it in mid-air as it closed in. Once she had it safely in her grasp, she found that it is Julia's badge that she is holding and officially, her first badge of Reborn League, shaped in a pattern similar to a ligtning bolt.

"Take it, Alice. The whatchamacolit badge!" Julia tentatively put a hand underneath her chin. "What was it named again?"

Alice just sighed, how could a gym leader forget the name of their official badge is beyond her. Nonetheless, pulling out a badge case, she gingerly put it in the upper left corner of the box.

17 badges left. She knew she still had a long way to go before she can even think to challenge the Elite Four and Champion of this region.

"Oh by the way! That thingmagigger badge makes a lot of things happen, you know!" Julia said with a grin.

Alice rolled her eyes, that much was already obvious to her.

"Aaaand, it allows you to use the thing!" She continued on.

"...what thing?" Alice asked eventually.

Before Julia could say more, her eyelids starting to droop over in drowsiness and her head itself began to tilt over. "I need coffee..." She muttered tiredly.

Coffee. Was that the reason why she looks like she's on permanent sugar high all the time? Drinking too much coffee? Even Alice knew that wasn't healthy.

Alice shook her head, Julia haven't answered the question yet. "Julia." She called out.

"Oh!" Her head snapped up again once she realized that she almost fell asleep. "It allows you to use the TMX Cut, outside of battle! Pretty cool, huh?"

"...TMX?"

"You didn't know?" Julia saw Alice shook her head. "Well, lemme put it this way. You can just make your Pokemon forget moves the simple way, no need to go to any Move Deleter anymore!"

Alice digested that information and nodded, that does certainly prove to be useful. At least she didn't have to travel back and forth anymore.

"Also-also! With my badge, now your Pokemon won't disobey you for a while in case they get too powerful! And also-also-also!" Julia pulled out something again, it was round in shape. "Take this!" And she threw it like a frisbee.

Alice deftly caught it. Looking it over, she found it was a TM, marked with the label 'TM57, Charge Beam'. She couldn't help, but nod in satisfaction, now she just needed a compatible Pokemon.

The blonde trainer smiled at the gym leader. "Thank you, Julia."

"No problemo! Consider thanks for the help yesterday! It doesn't go boom, but it's sure is a useful move. Anyway!" The cheerleader collapsed onto her back. "Sleepies...goodnight, Alice..."

Alice promptly heard snoring. She just facepalmed at that. Who fell asleep at the drop of a hat on the floor of a power plant?

Regardless, Alice had what she had came for her. She battled and won against Julia, earning her badge and her TM. All in all, it was a success.

A part of her still couldn't believe that she had been victorious against Julia, but another part of her said, that fact is to be believed. Reborn Gym Leaders are difficult, but not impossible to defeat.

Alice knew she couldn't relax yet thought, there are probably other leaders who will be more difficult than Julia. And this is only the first gym, the second gym awaits her.

Taking a look one last time at the slumbering Julia, she just chuckled before turning around and made her way out of the gym.

Exiting the power plant turned gym through the double sliding doors, Alice spotted someone near the fenced area entrance. Said someone who Alice now recognized as Victoria from the dress and hairstyle alone had also spotted her and immediately waved at her.

"Hey, Alice!" Victoria called out at her in excitement.

Alice waved back sedately and walked over to the other girl. "Hey, Victoria."

"You just left the building. Does that mean you earned your first badge?" Victoria asked.

Alice simple respond to that was a smile and the eventual nod.

Victoria couldn't help, but smile at her friend's success. "That's great to hear!"

"Should I assume you're here to challenge Julia too?" Alice asked, assuming it was that way as Victoria was standing around in front of the building.

Victoria nodded. "Yes, I was thinking about challenging Julia." Then her expression turned into a frown. "But I heard something awful before I got here."

Awful was not the word Alice expected. Alice didn't know something that could be described as 'awful' had happened in the time taken for Alice to battle and defeat Julia.

Alice had to ask. "Did something happen?"

Victoria slumped at that, knowing she will have to tell Alice sooner or later. "Yes. Appareantly something weird happened in Obsidia Ward."

Alice raised an eyebrow at that. The previous day, Florinia said she had something to take care of in Obsidia, Julia mentioned it was something to do with giant plant and now, Victoria said there's trouble happening in Obsidia. That's the third time this was mentioned.

What did some plants have to do with troubles? A trouble that expands to cover an entire city block no less?

"Alice?" Victoria coughed.

Shaking her head, Alice knew she was musing again. "Sorry."

"Well, like I was saying. Something weird is happening in Obsidia Ward. Everyone was saying that the plants are coming to life and are attacking people!" Victoria said in disbelief.

Alice blinked. Plants coming to life and attacking people is unheard of. Plants are alive, yes, but not enough that they could suddenly assault human beings.

That answers the question about Julia's statement regarding the 'giant plant thing'. But that doesn't answer why did it go and attack people all of the sudden. Without a doubt, Alice knows this is the action of some Pokemon. Humans can do it as well...provided they have some sort of technology to do it.

Alice could only nod at the absurd statement.

"As soon as I heard, I knew I had to go down there and see if I can help!" Victoria continued. "But...I was also about to challenge the gym, so I was stuck."

"We aren't supposed to go down there in the first place." Alice said simply, she knew where Victoria is going with this and was secretly hoping that Victoria can get the hint. At times, she knew it's better to avoid ttrouble.

"Well..."Victoria was uncertain of that, but ultimately relented. "...you're right about that."

Alice sighed in relief, now she knows that Victoria knows better.

Until she suddenly declared. "...but I can't just leave all those people be!"

Alice almost facefaulted at that, trying to maintain what remains of her composure.

"Sorry, Alice! I would stay and talk more, but I need to hurry!" Without much warning, Victoria turned on her heels and ran toward the left turning. "Bye, Alice!"

Alice was...dumbfounded to say the least. Victoria had left her behind, just like that. And that's not mentioning she is about to run headlong into trouble.

That's what brought Alice back to the real world. Victoria is going to put herself at risk and Alice can't have that on her conscience knowing she could have stopped her.

"Victoria!" Alice called out frantically toward the retreating figure as she rounded around the corner. "Victoria! Wait!"

As Alice turned the corner, she spotted Victoria is already running towards the Opal Ward direction, judging from the way she is near the coastline and immediately turned left toward the Grand Hall.

Sighing, she went after Victoria.

...or that's what Alice would have done, going after Victoria if she hadn't alraedy remembered something crucial that needs to be done right now.

"...Pokemon Center, right." She muttered mostly to herself.

Her Pokemon are injured and most of all, drained of all their bodily strength from the fight with Julia. They need immediate medical attention before she can continue on her journey somewhat unhindered from danger.

Rushing in headlong into danger going after Victoria with injured Pokemon won't help things either, she must heal them up first before she can focus on her.

With that in mind, she turned around toward the direction where the Pokemon Center was and made her way down the street.

She can only hope Victoria hadn't put herself into danger in the meantime. Or better yet, see reason.

* * *

 **Author Note :**

Phew, writing a challenging gym leader is not easy, I tell you guys that. I hope this shows that Reborn League are definitely not for the faint of heart in-universe. Just a single one of these gym leaders are competitive-level hard. Requires the most dedication to beat.

Hope you guys enjoy, stay tuned for the next part!


	11. Chapter 11 : Plant Apocalypse

The Peridot Ward Pokemon Center, in the morning, was as crowded as one might expect. As Alice painfully found out when she had entered the Peridot Ward Center.

The moment she had stepped through the doorway, the center was a veritable hall of activity as trainers and other people alike mile about. There was even a line to the counter, consisting of trainers wanting to take care of their Pokemon immediately.

Despite wanting to turn around and try her luck at the Grand Hall Center, she stopped short, knowing the trip there would take time. There wasn't even a guarantee it's not crowded as well, seeing as it's the building that takes care of administration of various challengers alike.

With a sigh, Alice walked to and took her place as the last people on the line.

* * *

After waiting for nearly a quarter of an hour just to get a turn, Alice finally found herself at the front of the line, much to her relief.

The Nurse Joy currently in charge smiled at her. "Good morning, miss. Would you like to heal your Pokemon?"

Alice only give a simple nod, reaching into her pocket and brought out three shrunk Pokeball before placing them on the counter.

"Very well, miss." The Nurse Joy smiled, taking all the shrunk Pokeball with practiced gentleness and brought them out of view.

"No problem." Alice only nodded before getting herself out of the queue and walked away.

With the sofas currently occupied by too many people, Alice decided to learn again the wall just beside the doorway as she waited.

Right now, Nurse Joy will take care of business and hopefully it goes fast enough. Thought, she had silently wished that she had taken the Grand Hall Pokemon Center instead if she knew it was this crowded so early in the morning.

Alice can only sigh, knowing there's nothing she can do about it, but wait. She wondered briefly what Victoria was doing right now.

Then Alice blinked. Better question would be, how is Victoria going to go through the police blockade on her own? As far as she knew, Victoria was just a civilian trainer going around doing challenges. Unless perhaps Alice was missing something? Or was she perhaps about to do something...unsavoury to bypass the blockade?

Alice can only wince briefly, hoping that Victoria won't go that far. Even she had no intention on getting on the police's blacklist for minor offenses.

Alice rubbed her head, she knew she needs to muse about something else. Perhaps it was time to make some calls, as she had done so many times before at this point, if only just to comfort herself. Yesterday had been one dangerous event after another.

Dare she say, even the gym had been...quite volatile.

Bringing out her brand-new PokeGear, she flipped it open. She took some times to remember a particular number, but not so much. And so, she began punching in some number most familiar to her.

Once that done, and the ringing on the other end starts, she brought the receiver to her ear.

On the third ring, someone had finally picked it up. "Hello?"

Hearing that particular voice brought momentary relief to Alice. "Hey, mom."

"A-Alice?" Her mom stuttered momentarily on the other end. "I didn't know it was you."

"Well...I got a new PokeGear. From the Reborn League Administration."

"That explains the foreign number." Alice could hear chuckling on the other end. "Anyway, how are you? It's been one day, so you have arrived safely?"

Alice opened...then closed her mouth just as quickly. She decided to omit that part if she has to. There's no need for her mom to know what sort of danger she had gone through already. Suffice to say, she hadn't even arrived safely.

Again, Alice had no intention of getting herself into danger like that again. The authorities can take care of it, she is just a wandering trainer looking to achieve victory in the league, not some superhero. Alice had no intention getting over her head and get herself seriously injured in the attempt.

"Alice?"

Shaking her head, she quickly responds. "Sorry, mom, just thinking."

"You still like to muse." Alice, once again, could hear chuckling from the other end.

"For your questions, mom, I did arrive safely." Alice lied, hoping she would never find out. "And I already have my first badge."

"You certainly haven't lost your touch, Alice." Alice's mom responded from the other end. "Weren't the gym leaders there more difficult?"

"They are." Alice confirmed. "But they are only more difficult, not impossible to defeat."

"Wise words, dear." Her mom agreed. "What are you doing right now?"

Briefly glancing at the counter where Nurse Joy was working, Alice went back to the phone call. "I'm in the Pokemon Center right now, healing my Pokemon up from the gym battle."

"In that case, then I'm sure you are doing just fine so far on the gym challenge."

Alice could only wince, Julia should have been fined for the blatant misconduct of hazardous Pokemon and material. Not once, but a few times she was assaulted by explosions.

"...Alice?"

Again, Alice cursed herself for her habit of musing like this.

"Are you thinking of something? You normally don't muse this much if nothing was happening." Alice's mom asked uncertainly.

Alice can only sigh. Her mom knew Alice like the back of her hand. "It's nothing, mom."

There was a brief silence on the other end, until a sigh was heard. "Well, I won't pry then. Just keep yourself out of trouble, alright?"

Alice intends to do that just now. "I will, mom."

"Oh and good luck to your Reborn Gym Challenge, dear. I'm sure you'll do better this time."

Even at a time like this, Alice can only smile at her mother's encouraging words. "Thank you, mom."

With that, Alice ended the call. Just in time for her to hear the Nurse Joy calling out for her name.

"To the owner of a Frogadier, Pidgeotto, and Liepard. If you would please report to the counter!?"

That was Alice's cue of getting back on track. Walking back to the counter, not minding the line beside her this time, she took her place on the counter.

"I'm here." She called out softly.

"Ah, miss," Nurse Joy smiled once again, reaching below the counter and brought out a tray holding three, normal-sized Pokeball. "I'm happy to inform you that your Pokemon are now as healthy as they can be."

Alice nodded. Shrinking each respective Pokeballs, she pocketed them again.

The Nurse Joy gave her a bow of thanks. "Thank you for using our services. We hope to see you again, miss."

"Thank you." Alice thanked back.

With that, Alice exited the Center, her mind set on heading toward Obsidia Ward.

* * *

As Alice walked up the steps, she couldn't help, but glance briefly at the Grand Hall. Now that she looking at it now, it appears more imposing than before, as if it loomed over the dark and dreary city like a lit skyscraper in the middle of the night. It was perhaps the only thing that remains untouched in this city. Sanctuary for trainers, foreign and local alike.

How come a city this big become like this, Alice still wanted to know really. Ame just said it was a fallout from something, but she was not being very specific.

Regardless, she knew she can find out about that later. Finding Victoria is still the main concern.

As she reached the top of the steps, she turned around the left corner. Walking down a bit, she stopped once she found a familiar blockade to her right that she had encountered a day earlier.

It was in the middle of the bridge leading to Obsidia. Two metal, barred, metal fences was brought out that stretched out from each side of the pavement covering down the road towards the middle, creating a single entrance. Said entrance was guarded closely by two men in blue.

Alice half-expected Victoria to still be stuck here trying to get through the blockade. Unfortunately, there was no else besides her, some people milling about and the two cops.

Now that Alice is here, she found herself stumped on what to do. Even she knew just walking up to the cops won't solve the issue.

Alice tried to think on what to do, but she found herself completely stumped still, partly from her desire to not raise some trouble in the presence of some police officers.

It was right now, one of the cops had finally starting to notice her. "Excuse me, miss? Do you need help?"

Only then, Alice had managed to derail her train of thoughts. Perhaps walking up to the cops and explaining her situation would be better than nothing.

She was stopped short by a hand being raised up, deterring her advance. "I'm sorry miss, but civilian entry into the area is prohibited. Currently we have a very volatile situation beyond here. Reborn Staff are currently working to resolve the issue, please be patient."

Alice was about to explain the situation regarding Victoria, then she had finally noticed that the left cop was speaking to a familiar figure clothed in green. She hadn't seen the him previously.

Alice almost grimaced at the sight. But a closer look found that it wasn't who she thought in the first place.

The cop she was talking to noticed and glanced right over the girl's shoulder. She herself glanced over it and Alice found it really wasn't Fern.

"Alice, greetings." Florinia greeted.

Alice sighed, why did she speak like an AI anyway? "Hello, Florinia."

"I cannot be idle, however. My immediate departure necessitated. Obsidia remains in a volatile state. As such, my attendance is mandatory." Florinia explained matter-of-factly.

Alice rolled her eyes, again, she knew that already. She was more concerned of finding Victoria before she does something stupid.

Florinia gave Alice a nod. "Farewell, Alice." She took a look at the cop, and he nodded before stepping aside, allowing her to pass through.

Alice could only watch with a frown as Florinia passes through without trouble, if only because she is a probably an official from Reborn. She really needed to find a way inside somehow, without drawing the ire of the police.

Then Florinia stopped walking. "...Reconsidering."

Florinia only turned around and fixed Alice with a stare. "Alice,"

"What?" Alice asked.

"Are you attempting to access the Obsidia Ward?"

Again, Alice rolled her eyes, she had stated the obvious again. "Yes, I am." She answered eventually.

The right cop moved to stop her. "Miss, please reconsider. We still have a very volatile situation brewing over there. We can't, in good conscience, allow you to pass. Please wait, I'm sure the situation would be resolved in due time."

"Agreement." Florinia nodded. "The area currently remains restricted for all outside civilians in reaction to the damage currently being inflicted."

"Yeah, what she said." The left cop chimed in. "So, miss, whatever you do, we can't-"

"However," Florinia cut in sharply. "Given the previous assistance granted at the factory an exception may be possible."

Alice blinked, what did Florinia just mean by that?

Florinia didn't explain, only turning to the cop she had talked to just moments before. "This person may be able to assist in the present situation in Obsidia."

Alice knew for a fact she didn't agree to that. She was just here to look for Victoria, period. After that, the rest of the crisis, she can leave to the authorities to handle. She is not looking to be a superhero.

"Uh, wait, Florinia..." Alice attempted to speak.

Florinia ultimately ignored her. "Is passage permissible?"

"Uhhh..." The cop scratched his head uncertainly. "Well, you are a Reborn Staff Miss Florinia. If you give this girl here the go-ahead. We really can't stop you."

Florinia took a look at the right cop this time, and he himself was uncertain. "Miss Florinia. If I can be frank, I think you shouldn't-"

"Unfounded worry, officer. Alice is a skilled trainer as eyewitness account, myself included can attest toward. Therefore, she is capable and can be granted access." Florinia cut him off.

"...if you say so, Miss Florinia." He ultimately relented, stepping aside as well. "I just hope this won't bite us in the ass later."

"...if you say so, Miss Florinia." He ultimately relented, stepping aside as well.

Now that was done, Florinia turned toward Alice's direction from where she was again. "Access granted, Alice."

Again, Alice attempted to deny what Florinia had said. "Florinia, wait, I didn't-"

"Situational briefing : An unknown force has recently began continual engagement in the over-stimulation dan manipulation of malignant flora life." Florinia continued, not minding what Alice has to say at the moment.

The moment Florinia had mentioned 'force', it had piqued Alice's interest all over again. What did Florinia mean by that? Was it really because of some culprit doing some insane scientific experiments that the plants in the immediate area were going crazy?

As Alice mused, Florinia continued on unhindered. "Cause remains unknown, however, previous incidences of this behavior have resulted in the large-scale destruction."

Again, that left Alice wondering again. Did something of this scale happen sometime ago? Or better yet, was there another plant outbreak?

"Objective," Florinia spoke, holding up her index and middle fingers in front of her. "Isolate and eliminate the source of extraneous growth immediately. The target area has been narrowed down to Obsidia Park, hosting a majority of the local floral species in the ward."

Somehow, Alice wasn't as surprised. Of course, it has to begin somewhere where plants are in abundance in order to start something of this magnitude.

"Operation assets will assemble there shortly. Do attend, Alice." With a nod, Florinia turned around and walked off somewhere.

Alice noted the asset part, she sincerely hope that 'assets' didn't include Fern again. She...really had had enough of his attitude to last an entire lifetime.

...only now did Alice realize that she remembered that she still had a thing or two to say to Florinia. "Wait, Florinia-"

Alice realized Florinia wasn't there anymore, she had disappeared, probably off to handle what caused this mess in the first place then that she had finished briefing Alice.

She was...poleaxed, and she cursed at herself for her own stupidity. Her tendency to muse at the exactly wrong time had landed her in this fine mess. She decided she really hated Florinia at the moment. She didn't even get a chance to speak out nor can she even deny trying to give her assistance.

Alice wanted to turn around and just forget this had ever happened, but she knew she couldn't. She still had to find Victoria, then, with great reluctance, offer assistance to Florinia.

Alice knew she couldn't really get out of this one. If she did, it might unintentionally paint her in a bad light. A cowardly trainer who refused to help when the chips are down. And she wouldn't want that to happen.

Alice, at least, wanted to make the best of this situation first. By asking questions.

"Sir," Alice called out, waiting for any response.

"Yes, miss?" The right cop answered.

That was Alice's cue. "What should I avoid in the Obsidia Ward? Anything to note about?"

"Well," The right cop put a hand onto his chin as he thought about what to say. "The only thing I can say is that...be careful where you step into, miss. The grounds are...how do I put this...unstable and liable to give away at any moment. Oh, and stay away from the plants, we really don't know how they will react. Our reports are mixed at best with those."

"Yeah!" The left cop chimed in. "Stupid thing almost got me in the a few times. Damn cracks..." He muttered at the end.

"...okay." Alice said uncertainly, deciding she might as well go with that info. She still had some things to ask, though. "Any other news?"

The cop answered immediately with that. "We have reports that the ground give away in the road between here to Obsidia Park. I don't think we can travel there in straight path anymore."

Alice wanted to rub her face at that in annoyance. Things are really starting to get complicated. As if it's wasn't complicated already when Florinia entered the picture.

So she decided to ask, briefly hoping for the best. "Is there another way?"

"Since there are fissures blocking the path, there is only one way that we have confirmed from the reports."

"...that is?" Alice gestured on.

"Obsidia Slums." The right cop answered eventually with a grave tone. "It runs underneath all the way to the other side of Obsidia Ward. That should get you through."

"But careful down there, miss. It's called Obsidia Slums for a reason." The left cop cut in again.

Alice just sighed, she knew she shouldn't have expected anything less really. Of course, she has to go somewhere...dubious just to get to a single destination. Here's hoping that there are no unsavoury characters in these 'slums'

"Miss?"

Alice shook her head, and smiled at the cop. "Sorry. Thank you for the information, officers."

"Glad we could help, miss." The left cop rubbed the back of his head.

"Good luck in there," The right cop nodded. "You'll need it."

Alice knew she probably would need it, by all accounts.

With that, Alice stepped into the Obsidia Ward proper, ready to tackle the crisis.

* * *

Alice rubbed her eyes, twice, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things right now. But once she had done, the scene in front of her remains there.

Alice could only blink at the large-scale destruction done into the Ward by some...plants.

The buildings, all, had been covered in some parts, or wrapped by some giant vines all over. Some part of the streets are entirely cracked, massive fissures running to the sides or up and down. Alice found that the cracks are hollow which Arceus knows where they will lead to. Last, but not least there were some...wiggling vines jutting out from the ground.

Alice wondered if she had gotten in way over her head this time around. Somehow, she was tempted to turn around and forget she had spoken to Florinia.

"Attention!" The sudden amplified voice had startled Alice a bit. "We currently have a situation in Obsidia! All citizens are advised to remain calm and remain indoors until the crisis is resolved."

Then it began looping by itself. "Attention! We currently have a situation in Obsidia! All citizens are advised to remain calm and remain indoors until the crisis is resolved."

Alice looked around, and there's still quite a lot of crowd milling about in the street erratically. She just sighed, panic can essentially make people forget about their surroundings at times. None of them had paid attention to the message.

Nonetheless, she walked forward, she still had to find Victoria anyway. Alice skillfully dodged the erratic crowd, as this isn't the first time she had to deal with this.

Then after she bypassed a few of those vine-wrapped buildings, she found that the crowd was deliberately avoiding something in the middle of the street.

It was a...wiggling vine. It appears to be jutting out from the ground.

Alice was a bit dumbfounded at this discovery. She didn't know the 'source' can actually make vines go wiggling and appear alive. Now, Alice knew for sure that this is a Pokemon doing. They're the only ones that can make

...or some mad scientist is playing God again.

Alice wanted to know more, thought. Against her better judgement, her arm reached out to touch the vines just a bit. To test out whether or not it was truly alive.

Then it whip cracked across the top of her hand.

"Aaack!" Alice exclaimed, quickly pulling her hand back. Looking at it, it was completely beet red. She hissed in pain.

"Careful there. You don't want to touch those things!" Someone in the crowd yelled out.

Alice made a quick mental note : avoid any wiggling vines that happens to be jutting out from the ground. She cursed her stupid curiosity at times.

Now, she really wanted to get this whole thing over and done with.

In her surprise, the corner of her eyes had registered a building that had the entrance bear a Pokeball over it.

* * *

"Hello! Welcome to Critical Capture! How may be of assistance, miss?"

Alice had decided she would enter the Pokeball shop and get a taste on what they had to offer. She decided she might as well do this now that she had access to Obsidia Ward before they closed it again. Though how come a shop is still operating in the middle of a crisis she had no idea.

It was also an excuse to let her throbbing hand rest for a little. Still stung from the whip earlier. She can't throw a ball at this rate.

Now, here she was, standing before the counter where the waitress was attending to."Yes, I would like to have some Pokeballs. Is there anything unique you might have?" Alice asked.

The waitress smiled just a little bit wider. "You're in luck, miss! We have some specialty balls to make sure you get that third shake! More products are on the way, but please feel free to browse the current stock we have!" The waitress said cheerfully, before gesturing somewhere behind her.

Alice just nodded then positioned herself in front of the first stand to her left before she began reviewing the product that they might have. Get herself some extra and unique Pokeballs while she can.

"This is so pitiful!"

Now Alice finally noticed that had been a scientist also inspecting the stocks in the same stand to her right.

She couldn't help, but glance his way and ask. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, forgive me, I was just wondering out loud." The scientist quickly apologized.

"...alright." Alice said eventually.

"Excuse me, young lady." The scientist asked this time.

"Yes?"

"Are you perhaps a trainer?"

"I am." Alice nodded, seeing no reason to hide it from this man.

"Then I'm sure you can see," He said with a frown, gesturing toward the stock. "That the craftsmanship of these Pokeballs are cheap."

But for the sake of not angering this man, she decided to just nod. She doesn't want to look for trouble. "What's this about thought?"

The scientist nodded with a smile, now facing toward Alice. "Sorry to nitpick, but I used to be a Ball Designer myself." Glancing at the Pokeballs again in clear disgust, he shook his head. "It irks me to see these factory made-in-Kalos balls not being quite up to snuff."

Now Alice knew what had been aggravating the man so much. If she were passionate about it, then she would complain about it herself.

"...forgive me for that, I'm beginning to ramble, aren't I?"

Alice could only nod at that unfortunately. It wasn't really unlike that of her tendency to muse about.

"...sorry about putting so much in your plate, miss." The scientist sounded apologetic. "I can be...into my work sometimes."

Alice shook her head. "It's not a problem."

"Thank you for understanding. Oh, and, sorry again I took so much time from you. Feel free to go back to browsing the stock again."

That, Alice intended to do from the beginning. So she did if only because she had no more time to waste.

Thought she had a feeling she'll see him again soon enough in the near future.

* * *

As Alice exited the Pokeball store, happy she got some of their stocks safely tucked in the bag, she began walking down the street.

Alice was a unsurprised at the sight of the crowd up ahead. A quick glance among the gap found that there's a large fissure on the road, essentially blocking the latter half of Obsidia with this one. Just like the cop said.

She could try her luck and jump across, but Alice isn't looking to try her luck. For all she knew, like the cop said, the ground might give away.

Spotting a road going down toward the coast, she went there, perhaps one of the cops slipped up in the report and there would be another route that will take her there. Definitely not through the slums at any rate.

As she walked through the route, there was a small T-intersection up ahead waiting for her. One alley going down the coastline, and the other going to the left, which she had hoped still allows her access to the latter half of Obsidia Ward.

As she turned around the corner, she found that her dreams were crushed immediately upon seeing another giant fissure running across the street, blocking even this passage.

Alice could only stare for a moment, before reluctantly accepting the need to travel through dangerous territories. Turning around, she went back to where the alley were.

As she turned the corner, Alice found that she had almost bumped into someone, much to her surprise.

"Aah, sorry!" The person, Alice knew as female stumbled backward.

"No problem." As Alice was slowly getting her bearings back on tracks, she finally got a good look at the person.

Much to her surprise, so did the other girl.

"Wait...Alice!?"

There she was, the girl that Alice had been searching for is here. "Hello again, Victoria." She said simply.

"What are you doing here, Alice?"Victoria couldn't help, but ask.

Alice sighed, that one would take too long to explain. "I was...helped. It's not like what you think."

Seeing the reluctance in Alice's tone to elaborate, Victoria could only nod. "Alright?"

Now Alice had gotten that out of the way, it was her turn to ask. "I thought you would be around the other side of Obsidia?"

"Well," Putting her arms behind her back, Victoria looked sheepish. "That's just it, I don't know what to do..."

Alice could almost facepalm at that. There she was before, abandoning her gym challenge and charge straight here to help people and now she doesn't know what to do?

Victoria continued on, despite Alice's musing. "The main road...they're blocked off thanks to the plants destroying the city. And the only other way through is through the Obsidia Slums." Jerking a thumb over her shoulder, she continued. "Down this way."

"...then I thought you would be down there." Alice eventually asked.

"I did...I went in there...But." Victoria's expression turned into a frown. "It's too dangerous in there! All these man kept trying to attack me and it was like the debris was moving on it's own!"

Alice can see that already, it's called slums for a reason. Unsavoury characters tend to gather in spots like that. Taking the long way around did nothing to help Alice deal with her nerves. She really starting to regret helping Florinia out.

And what's this about Victoria talking about 'moving debris?' No debris can move on their own, so as far as Alice knew, it has to be a Pokemon...whatever it is. At least Victoria made it out alright.

"Alice?" Victoria asked, tilting her head as she tried to get her friend's attention.

Shaking her head, Alice looked at Victoria once more. "Yes?"

Alice could see that Victoria's expression turned serious all of the sudden. "...Are you going to go through the slums?"

As much as Alice hated to say it, she had to. "Yes..." She said simply.

The other girl can only sigh. "I was kind of worried you might say that." Victoria can only go with a frown at that. "Why?"

Sighing, Alice answered. "Florinia...'asked' me to help with this crisis."

"Florinia, did?" Victoria wondered out loud.

"Yes..." Alice answered simply. Again, she really didn't want to go through lengths explaining it, she just wanted to forget it.

Victoria went silent for a bit, before rubbing her forehead. "That explains it..." She eventually decided. Then she looked at Alice again with a grave expression. "Isn't there anything I can say to stop you, thought? It's really not safe down there."

While Alice appreciate the concern, she found that Victoria's worries are unfounded in the least. She is a big girl, so she can take care of herself just fine. If any lecherous gaze is directed her way, she can handle it. It's not like it's the first time someone looked at her that way.

If they decided to attack her, then they would know the price of doing so. Her Pokemon would make sure of that.

Victoria probably only felt Alice couldn't handle it because she herself backed off the moment the slums become too much for her.

"C'mon, Alice! Stop that!"

Shaking her head once more, Alice only looked on in embarrassment. "Sorry...and no, Victoria." She said regretfully. "While you're worried, I can still take care of myself."

"I can help her with that. Seriously, Alice, you don't have to go. Florinia just 'asked' you to-"

Alice immediately cut her off. "I should rephrase that...'recruited'."

"But-" Victoria tried to find something more to say, but she couldn't. "There's nothing I can do to convince you, isn't there?"

"Sorry, Victoria. I can't just...leave her after she recruited me like that. She might decided to think twice about my attitude." As much as Alice wanted to do that, she couldn't in the end. She would be a bad sport doing so.

Sighing, Victoria then looked at her again with a serious expression. "I might not be able to do anything right now. But I can't let you go down there, Alice. It's just too dangerous."

Alice wanted to argue some more, Victoria is being ridiculous like this.

This time, however, before Alice could say anything, Victoria cut her off sharply. "But," Reaching into her dress, Victoria pulled out a Pokeball. "If you think you're strong enough to do so, prove it by defeating me first!"

Alice blinked, once again someone had asked her for a battle out of the blue. What's with Reborn and it's population challenging people out of the blue anyway?

But Alice felt that they shouldn't battle over simple matters like this. This is getting ridiculous. "Victoria, be reasonable..."

"I'm sorry, Alice! But I can't let you pass unless you battle me first! The slums are too dangerous, as you can see, I can't get through myself. So you have to prove your strength to me." Victoria declared.

Alice could only stare in deadpan at Victoria. Again, and again, she is being ridiculous. This isn't the first time either, she had shown this...impulsive side of hers. Back at Peridot, she was willing to go to a dangerous place like this just because she felt that was the right thing to do.

She could only sigh really. Was Victoria always this impulsive in the first place?

"Alice! If you're ready to battle, then send out your Pokemon!"

"...fine." Alice decided. She might as well get this over with already. Reaching into her pocket again, Alice pulled out a Pokeball. "On your go, Victoria."

"Alright!" Victoria took her stance, preparing to throw her Pokeball.

Alice took her own stance as well, minding the countdown. Now she can only hope her first choice is the correct one.

The moment Victoria moved forward to throw, Alice herself mimicked the movement.

"Ralts, yours now!"

"Frogadier, it's time!"

* * *

 **Author Note :**

Ah, yes, the infamous side trekking of Pokemon. Why can't we just use our Pokemon to just jump over gaps and plants in-game is anyone's guess. And of course, a rival stands in the way again, Victoria and she had a few new tricks to use against Alice.

Things only get crazier from here from Obsidia.

Happy reading!


	12. Chapter 12 : Victoria Battle, 2nd

Alice didn't expect to find Victoria here, much less fight her on the same spot. Regardless, to move forward, she must win.

Both Pokeball flew from each trainer's hand and popped open, releasing both Pokemon from the confines of their home. Frogadier appeared once more, arms folded and ready to serve her trainer. Meanwhile, Victoria's Pokemon finally revealed itself to be a Ralts.

Victoria first choice was not what Alice had expected, but nonetheless, none of them had the advantage. It will be a matter of who is more skilled and creative now.

The battle is on once more.

Alice decided to press on while she can. "Frogadier! Approach the Ralts! Zig zag pattern!"

Frogadier immediately leaped into action, bounding across the battlefield with blinding speeds befitting its nature as a ninja. And as her trainer commanded, she made sure to randomize her pattern as to not let her enemy get a beat on her.

Victoria, however, was one step ahead this time. "Ralts, stop it! Disarming Voice!"

Again, Alice's eyes almost bugged out. Quickly, she issued a counter. "Round! Quickly!"

Stopping short before the Ralts, Frogadier tried it best to conjure an ear-shattering song. However, the Ralts were faster, sending sound waves faster than Frogadier could react. It struck and sent Frogadier screaming as she tumbled away.

"Good! Now, Lucky Chant!" Victoria commanded.

The Ralts assault ended as quickly as it came as it began chanting to itself. For a moment, it glowed blue and there was nothing. Critical hits will no longer be feasible to it.

Alice couldn't help, but glare at the Ralts. Of course, it has a undodgeable move. Those moves are basically Frogadier's worst enemy, as she rely on speed, agility and evasion to baffle her enemies.

She has to get creative fast or else she might lose this one. "Again, Frogadier! Approach the Ralts with Quick Attack!"

This time, faster than last time, Frogadier blurred out of view. This leaves Ralts momentarily confused before she saw said blur coming straight at her.

"That won't work again, Alice!" Victoria chided, before issuing another command. "Disarming Voice!"

Again, Ralts prepared to assault the Frogadier with Disarming Voice, ready to blast her away once more.

"Smokescreen!"

The blur stopped quickly in front of the Ralts and blew a smoke straight at it's face. This had the unfortunate effect of sending it into a coughing fit, rendering Disarming Voice useless at the moment.

Pressing on her advantage, Alice ordered. "Now Lick!"

Frogadier licked her tongue, letting it hang askew from her mouth before moving into to give her opponent a literal lick.

"Double Team!" Victoria ordered.

The Ralts still had enough of a sense to quickly obey it's trainer and executed the move. The Frogadier was seconds only late as her tongue hit nothing, but empty air. Correction, rather, what she licked was a copy of the original Ralts.

Looking around, she is now surrounded by doubles of the Ralts. She kept looking around, and still she couldn't discern which one was real and which one was fake.

"Immobilize him with Confusion!" Victoria ordered suddenly.

All the copies promptly glowed blue and brought their arms forward.

Frogadier wanted to jump away from the circle of copies surrounding her, if only just to escape the Confusion at least.

However, as she jumped, she found that she was halted in mid-air. And she promptly lost all feelings in her limb. She grunted, trying to move any of her limbs in vain.

"Frogadier!" Alice exclaimed in worry.

"Alright, that's good, Ralts!" Victoria praised. "Don't let her escape now!"

Frogadier tried her best to break free from the Psychic hold, she just have to muster the willpower to do so. But over time, she felt the Psychic grip on her is getting stronger and stronger. If she didn't do something, she'll get knocked out.

She looked at her trainer for directions.

Alice saw the look, and quickly she tried to formulate a plan to escape this situation. Then one came to her quickly enough. "Frogadier, move your head and aim your Smokescreen downward."

Victoria was just confused. What is Alice up to?

Frogadier can't move her limbs, but she can still at least move her head. Pointing her head downward, she blew one massive smoke after the other toward the ground. As the smoke had nowhere else to go after that, it quickly spread to it's surroundings, quickly covering the battlefield and essentially, every single copy of the Ralts.

Alice covered her face with her arm, this was perhaps the only way for Frogadier to be released from the Psychic-type chokehold. Then she heard that within the smoke, someone is coughing. The real one must have did it. Now she can only hope the Psychic grip is released upon Frogadier.

This was the time to make her move. "Frogadier! Listen closely! Jump up and use Round below you!"

She didn't know whether or not Frogadier have heard her, but she can only hope for the best. Then something burst upward from the plume of smoke and sailed on skyward.

To Alice's surprise, it's her Frogadier. She smiled, knowing Frogadier must've heard her after all.

Frogadier sailed skyward, arms hanging limply on her side. As soon as she reached the apex of her jump, parallel to the rooftop of the apartment building surrounding her, she angled her body downward. And she yelled as loud as she could into the plume of smoke below her.

The plume of smoke was blown across every direction by the shock wave emitted, followed by a yelp of pain from a certain Ralts. Frogadier's trained eyes allowed it to spot a single Ralts once all the smoke was cleared out, with no copies in sight.

Alice smiled. In the end, Double Team is a move that produces copies, fakes, illusions, whatever one may call it. There's only one of them that's real among all the copies.

It's time to press her advantage. "Lick, now!"

"Ralts! Look out!" Victoria shouted, desperate for Ralts to get away.

However, the disorientation from having her eardrums assaulted like this was still present, Ralts could only wobble about uncoordinated. Meanwhile, Frogadier descended upon her like a falling star, lips parted to reveal her insanely long tongue once more.

Frogadier could only smile, this was her chance to land a perfect super effective hit, while she can. Angling herself upside down, she aimed to a specific spot as she fellt before she brought her arms downward.

She landed in a perfect handstand right in front of the disoriented Ralts. With her tongue hanging out of her mouth at the moment, gravity did the rest of her job.

Now Ralts got Licked for real. Vertically across her face and onto her mid-section. It sent a creeping shudder all the way from the base of it's tailbone to her head...before she collapsed backward in a crumpled heap. That was so disgusting!

"Ralts!" Victoria shouted, even as her Ralts was helplessly creeped out by the literal lick. "C'mon, snap out of it!"

Ralts couldn't snap out of it, even if it tried. The shudders run through it's body as the disgusting lick played again and again in it's mind.

That was Alice's chance. "Frogadier! Water Pulse!"

Frogadier's arm bent, before the uncoiled like a spring, sending her shooting backward toward safety. Before safety can be reached, Frogadier blew a mid-air Water Pulse towards Ralts direction. Intending to finish her off right there.

The threat of an impending attack was enough to make Ralts snap out of it.

"C'mon Ralts, snap out of it! Double Team, again!"

In a display of dexterity, Ralts kicked up again and onto her feet, just enough for her to see the Water Pulse inches away from hitting her. Then without warning, she once again executed Double Team.

The Water Pulse hit nothing, but a copy, which promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Again, Frogadier found herself in the exact same spot she was five minutes ago, surrounded by copies.

Alice would have none of that now, neither would Frogadier. "Frogadier! Jump to the side now and out of the circle!'

Frogaider remained glued in place, even as the many Disarming Voice closed in on it. Then as they are a split second away from striking her, she jumped aside, flipping head over heels as she sailed up and over the deadly circle of Ralts.

All the Disarming voice converged into one and following closely behind.

As Frogadier sailed across the air, she righted herself before she struck the ground and landing gracefully. Then she heard another command.

"Quick Attack!"

Then she became a blur, disappearing, the Disarming Voice following wherever where Frogadier might have gone to.

"Now Round!"

Then Frogadier reappered, right beneath Victoria's feet, much to her great shock. She took aim and fired another soundwave of sound from her mouth. The soundwave appeared and gradually grew large enough to encompass the gathering of Ralts.

Again, the real one's eardrums are assaulted by the incessant noise. The other that are copies simply puffed out of existence.

Minding the fact

Victoria gritted her teeth. The Frogadier is too fast for Ralts, she knew she have to immobilize it immediately. "Ralts! Quickly, Confusion!"

Shaking it's head from the disorientation, it mustered enough concentration to execute Confusion as it glowed.

"Quick Attack! Run around it!"

Then Frogadier disappeared in a blur, this baffled Ralts, causing it's Confusion to grip nothing but empty air. It promptly heard whoozing from all around it. It could see once a while a blur that came across the corner of it's eyes.

Victoria could only frown. "Alright Ralts, use the Disarming Voice to try and track the Frogadier!"

Ralts actually realized the Disarming Voice was still following the Frogadier around, despite numerous attempts to hit her had failed due to her Quick Attack at the moment. The Disarming Voice tracking ability is a bit difficult, but at least it could see where it would bend around and turn to try and track down the Frogadier. She can't run around forever and the moment she stops, Confusion will be her end.

Alice...could only nod in approval. That was a smart move, using Disarming Voice to track the blur that is Alice's Frogadier.

Brilliant move, but not good enough either.

"Frogadier, get behind Ralts and seize it!" Alice commanded suddenly.

"What?" Victoria exclaimed in surprise.

As ordered, Frogadier appeared behind the Ralts and seized her easily enough now that she had blindsided it, grabbing it's arms in a submission hold.

Victoria was in panic. What's Alice trying to do? "Ralts, break free with Confusion!"

Ralts intended to do just that, concentrating to summon it's Psychic powers and throw the Frogadier off it.

"Pound!"

Only for Frogadier to struck her noggin, causing her to yelp in pain as the strike disrupted her concentration. Again, she tried, but Frogadier was vigilant and struck out again.

During the time, this all had happened, the Disarming Voice had tracked it's target once more and are closing in upon the Frogadier's direction...which happened to have Ralts currently in the way.

"Now, Frogadier! Throw her to it!"

Victoria widened her eyes! "Ralts, try to break free!"

It tried it's best to do that, but everytime it tried to do any moves, Frogadier would prevent that from happening with a well-placed Pound. It's stuck and it knew that.

Then it was flung forward, straight into the path of the incoming Disarming Voice. In that moment, it had known the taste of being struck by one's own attack. Despite the ineffectiveness of the attack, all the abuse from Frogadier it had suffered previously had weakened it to the point it had stumbled from such an attack before collapsing backward

"Ralts!" Victoria yelled out in worry.

Frogadier walked forward, arms held up and ready to be brought down upon the Ralts once more should it try to get up even after all that.

It didn't get up anymore.

Frogadier can only sigh in relief, lowering her arms. For a Ralts, it sure is hard to take out.

That was a hard fought battle for Frogadier, she won, but it wasn't easy in anyway. Alice had to admit, Victoria is no slouch in battling.

But still, she will win this. No, she had to win this one. As much as she hated being here more than she wanted to, leaving Florinia hanging would be even worse than that.

Returning Ralts into it's Pokeball, Victoria stared at Alice with a frown. "I admit, you're good, Alice."

Alice just raised an eyebrow. Perhaps Victoria had seen enough to deem her 'worthy' to pass through the slums now? Alice can only hope so.

"But you still," Then Victoria pulled out another Pokeball with her left hand. "Haven't won yet!"

She can only sigh, her hopes are dashed. So much for her plan on ending the battle right now. It looks like they're seeing this thing through to the end.

"Alright," Pulling her arm back, Victoria threw her second ball. "Makuhita, yours now!"

A Makuhita revealed itself, bashing it's gloved hand together, spoiling for a fight.

Alice raised an eyebrow. Not just Ralts, but Makuhita as well. It seems Victoria had been doing her homework. But again, so did Alice. The question now is, should she switch or let Frogadier try and bring it down?

She's already weakened from battling the feisty Ralts. For all she knew, she could go down with one hit right then and there. But she could try having Frogadier weaken the enemy before she goes down.

Her decision made, Alice stared at Victoria once more. "Let's do this..."

Alice had missed Victoria's smirk.

Again, Alice decided to open matters once more. "Frogadier, you know what to do! Approach and Water Pulse!"

Once more, with blinding speed, Frogadier showed her speed. Even without Quick Attack to help her, she can still run fast enough to blindside a Salamence if necessary. She knew enough to not take an opponent's Pokemon in a frontal attack in the state she was in now.

"Alright, Makuhita! Fake Out!"

The Makuhita blurred forward, with speed shouldn't have been possible for it's species. That was enough to surprise Frogadier, but that didn't prepare her for what happened next.

Makuhita claps it's large, gloved hands together right in front of Frogadier. This in turn unleashes a large shockwave.

All was silent, before Frogadier stumbled backward and wobbled in place. Her webbed hand brought to her head, trying to reorient herself back into the battle at hand.

"Frogadier!" Alice shouted in worry. But it was no use, her Frogadier still remained very well disoriented.

That was enough for Victoria to make her move. "This is it! Makuhita, Arm Thrust her!"

Makuhita stepped forward, both arms held back before she thrust them both forward into the Frogadier's chest. The blow was not powerful enough to send Frogadier flying back, but Makuhita doesn't need it to be that.

Frogadier can only yelp and scream, every time the palm connected with her being. She is trapped like this. She knew she has to get away from this Makuhita.

"Frogadier! Quick Attack, get out of there!" Alice ordered desperately.

But every time she tried to make a move, the Makuhita simply thrust out again, cancelling her attempt at retaliation, or trying to get away.

Just as the strikes slowed down, the Frogadier was brought onto her knees, gasping as she tried to drew in some air. Makuhita was not done yet, it moved in again and brought forth one last palm strike onto Frogadier's chest.

This time, she was sent sailing backward, landing short before Alice's own feet.

"Frogadier!"

Frogadier groaned, struggling to get up and fight...only to collapse once more.

She is down for the count.

Alice bit her lip, she knew she should have switched Frogadier out while she had a chance, but she kept her on the battlefield anyway. Alice should have expected that, Makuhita and Hariyama tend to open up the battle with Fake Out, before following it up with further punishment.

It's a minor mistake, one she wouldn't make again in the future.

Wordlessly, Alice returned Frogadier into her Pokeball before switching hers with another one. "This isn't over yet..." Pulling her arm back, she threw the Pokeball. "Pidgeotto, it's time!"

Out of the Pokeball, came her bird of prey once more, cawing as he is let out. He stared at his opponent, hovering in place, but ready to bring his wrath down once more.

Victoria knew enough about Flying-types to recognize when she was in trouble. "You have a Flying-type?"

"I do." Alice answered simply before declaring loudly. "Gust, Pidgeotto!"

Without warning, the hovering Pidgeotto flapped his wings forward just once, a violent wind current emerged from both wings to assault the Makuhita.

Despite it's apparent fat which should have glued it into place, it was blown backward just a bit. Whether or not it has a dense fat, that matters little in the face of a super effective hit.

Makuhita grunted as he tried to maintain balance in the violent gust. Fortunately enough, it didn't last long for it to actually be blown off it's feet.

Alice knew how slow Makuhita can be. As long as Pidgeotto remain on the move, Makuhita doesn't stand a chance.

It's time to knock out the Makuhita. "Pidgeotto! Quick Attack for movement! Now!"

Nodding, Pidgeotto became a blur again which Makuhita have troubles tracking. The blur sped around the battlefield at breakneck speed, circling around the baffled Makuhita.

"Gust again!" Alice commanded.

What comes next, Gust came from somewhere behind Makuhita, causing it to stumble forward. It glanced backward hurriedly, only to find that nobody's there anymore.

Makuhita and Hariyama have excellent vitality, but it matters little against agile Flying-types.

"Gust! Until it's knocked out!"

This time, it Pidgeotto cancelled his Quick Attack and reappeared, hovering a few distances away in front of the Makuhita.

Victoria tried to retaliate. "Makuhita! Quickly, Force Palm, before it gets away!"

Makuhita promptly stomped forward, one arm held back and ready to thrust it into the annoying bird of prey.

Pidgeotto would have none of that. He simply flapped his wings repeatedly as hard as he could.

This in turn, produces another one of his signature Gust twister. Makuhita stopped short before the twister, trying to fight back the stronger wind current.

As proven right now, the Makuhita covered its face with it's arms, trying to brave through the Gust Pidgeotto had conjured.

"This isn't your fight, Makuhita!" Victoria suddenly decided.

Alice, in turn, looked at the opposing girl as she pulled out a Pokeball and returned the Guts Pokemon into its domain.

Alice could only look at Victoria in minor annoyance. This changes thing, but not much, provided if the next one Victoria sent out was exactly what she had expected that is.

Meanwhile, Pidgeotto ceased the Gust twister he had created. He couldn't help, but caw in frustration. He was so close on knocking the Makuhita out and it was pulled away at the last second.

"I'm counting on you! Pignite," Victoria exclaimed as she threw it. "Yours now!"

Out came what should have been her Tepig, but now, an evolved Pokemon, Pignite. It snorted flame from it's nostrils before crossing it's arm, ready to fight.

"So it evolved." Alice couldn't help, but say.

"That's right, Alice." Victoria said, pride in her voice. "Don't think you'll have an easy time with my Pignite!"

Alice didn't think like that nor was she planning to anytime soon. Underestimating any opponent would be the end of someone. Foes should be taken seriously, no matter how seemingly weak they are.

That's what Alice is planning to do. She will have no mercy to Pignite.

Once more, Alice went back toward the battle, ready to end this. "Pidgeotto! You know what to do with Gust!"

Pidgeotto knew alright, and he does planned it to be that way.

He opened up with their battle with another Gust. This causes the Pignite to cover it's face with his arms.

"Pignite, Flame Charge!" Victoria countered.

Pignite fought back against wall of wind current as it set itself ablaze, surrounding itself in a wall of flame and providing minor protection as it does so. Then it charged toward Pidgeotto with speed unseen around Pignites.

"Pidgeotto, dodge with Quick Attack!"

However, Pidgeotto is faster on matters like this, and he simply hovered aside and away even as Pignite sailed pass it in a blaze.

Alice can guess Flame Charge was why Victoria switched to Pignite. Still Alice nodded, it was better than nothing.

Victoria was not one to go down without a fight, decided to act out again. "Pignite! Tail Whip!"

Alice narrowed her eyes, so Pignite still has that one.

As soon as the flame-covered Pignite landed and the blaze had ended to reveal itself again, it promptly wagged its tail cutely toward Pidgeotto.

The after-effect was like any other Tail Whip, Pidgeotto seemed uncertain, hesitant on what to do next.

"Pidgeotto, pull yourself together!" She shouted in vain, as Pidgeotto still remain hesitant as to whether or not harm such a cute being.

"Pignite! Flame Charge again! While he's distracted!" Victoria instructed.

Turning around, Pignite set itself ablaze once more and sailed across the air in a direct collision course on the Pidgeotto.

Pidgeotto squawked in pain as he is carried along in the Pignite's charge. Even the breathe it had gathered was forced out of it's lung with an 'oof' as Pignite used him as a cushion.

"Pignite, keep him down! And keep the Flame Charge on!"

Before Pidgeotto could think of breaking free, Pignite's arms were brought down on both of Pidgeotto's wings, charring them as well. Pidgeotto was soon held down even as the flame-covered Pignite loomed over it.

Again that trick is used. Alice really needed to find a way to implement that later. Provided she has the compatible Pokemon.

Pidgeotto's scream of pain brought her back to the real world. She can only wince as the crackle of flames burning flesh was heard over the cries of pain as well.

Alice knew she had to do something and fast, unless she wants Pidgeotto to be a fried chicken when this is all over.

But switching to Liepard might not necessarily better. She could get slaughtered out there by Makuhita and Pignite. She bit her lip, thinking hard on what to do.

Then she noticed something off. While holding Pidgeotto down, Pignite is bent down low, leaning over it, almost sneering as the Pidgeotto continued to burn under it's blze.

Her eyes widened as she got an idea, it would require Pidgeotto to be in even more pain thought. He will have to bear with it. She decided it would be the best way as there is no other way.

"Pidgeotto!" She called out.

Even amidst all the pain he had currently experienced, Pidgeotto can still hear the voice of his trainer clearly.

"Bite his nose!" Alice said suddenly.

Victoria could only jaw drop at the command.

Nonetheless, Pidgeotto knew he didn't have any better ideas. Committing himself to it, he opened his beak wide and clamped it shut on something soft.

A loud scream of pain occurred after that.

Pignite clutched at it's very painful nose right at this moment, this in turn causes it's blaze to cancel itself out and no longer he is holding Pidgeotto down.

That was the opening Pidgeotto needed. "Now, Twister!"

Now with his wings free, he can now unleash Twister with ease. The resulting Dragon-type twister that had happened blew Pignite up and away into the air.

Not one to miss an opportunity, Alice continued with another command. "Gust!"

Pidgeotto got up with a pained expression, nonetheless, he obeyed and unleashed a Gust upward. Even after Twister, the Gust that is executed moments later sent Pignite even farther up into the air. Being a super effective attack helps ignore it's weight a little.

Now Alice just stared upward...and waited. Pidgeotto wisely moved away from the area.

Only a few seconds later a massive crash landing occurred that had kicked up dust cloud in it's vicinity.

"...Uh, Pignite?" Victoria called out into the dust cloud, hoping that her Pignite is alright after that tremendous fall.

Victoria found her hope is dashed as the dust cloud parted to reveal that Pignite is face down on the ground, unmoving.

Victoria can next only gape at the incredulity of the situation that had just happened. Thought, she knew for a fact that said incredulity had just knocked out her Pignite.

So she frowned. "Pignite, return!" Returning the knocked out Pignite into it's Pokeball, she pocketed it before pulling out her last Pokeball. "Makuhita, yours now!" She exclaimed as she threw the last ball

Once more, the Makuhita revealed itself from it's Pokeball, bashing it's fist together and ready for a fight.

Alice decided to end this quickly."Pidgeotto, Quick Attack for movement! Circle him!"

Nodding, Pidgeotto took to the air once more and became a blur once more. Slower than Frogadier before him, the blur is more apparent, but still hard enough to be tracked properly by Makuhita as it looked this way and there in hopes of tracking him.

Then Victoria yelled out a command. "Makuhita, Sand Attack!"

Makuhita didn't know how it would do that accurately with Pidgeotto moving around like crazy. But it decided to obey, ready to kick up some sand.

Then it's trainer added another command. "Force Palm the ground to do it!"

Alice didn't know what that would do, but she remained on guard anyway.

Makuhita obeyed his trainer's command, pulling its arm back as far as it could then slammed it down into the ground as hard as it could. This had caused a minor tremor as well as cracking the road.

The unexpected side effect of such move was that, massive dust cloud quickly spread from the epicenter of the shockwave.

And, all the dust happened to be in Pidgeotto's flight path.

Pidgeotto squawked in alarm as he blundered into the dust with the force of a train, causing the numerous sands to burst into his sensitive eyes, causing him to stumble mid-flight. He was just a bit too low against the ground when that happened, his chest scraped against it and he crashed, skipping across the pavement a few times before rolling to stop.

Alice could only wince at that. She hoped he doesn't have any broken bones or anything after that.

Still, that was a smart move on Victoria's part.

Victoria decided to press her advantage. "Force Palm! Makuhita! While he's down!"

The Pignite shrouded itself in deadly amount of flames before charging straight at the still recovering Pidgeotto.

"Pidgeotto, get out of there with Quick Attack!"

No matter how much Alice pleaded for Pidgeotto to get out of there, it doesn't do him any good in recovering any quicker. And thus, his side was struck hard.

He can only squawk in pain as he sailed across the air momentarily, before crash landing again.

Alice just winced. "Pidgeotto! C'mon, get up!"

He got up with considerable pain from it's injuries, after a few moments stumbling around, he...stared at the wrong direction before shaking his head.

Alice knew when the Sand Attack is in play. But she doesn't need his eyes to do the next move.

"Pidgeotto! The Pignite is to your," Alice only took a moment to analyze the battlefield to decide. "Five o'clock! Gust!"

Pidgeotto can only nod, turning toward his trainer's desired direction before quickly unleashing another burst of Gust.

This attack causes Makuhita to reel back as it is struck by the violent wind current.

Alice looked at Victoria, but it looks like she is stuck on what to do. Makuhita couldn't really do anything at all at this point.

That was Victoria's mistake. Alice knew Gust or any other area of attack moves didn't need your eyes to be done correctly. As long as you knew the general direction of the enemy, the massive wind current will do the rest.

Still, Victoria attempted to at least try and end this fight on her terms, however hopeless it was. "Makuhita, c'mon! Arm Thrust again." Victoria encouraged.

Shaking it's head from the after effect of the super effective attack, it stomped forward with an arm held back ready to thrust it into Pidgeotto's chest once more.

Alice just narrowed her eyes, and she clenched her fist. "He's still coming from the same direction! Gust twister again, Pidgeotto! Finish it off!"

Pidgeotto obeyed, it couldn't see, but did as his trainer commanded anyway. This time, he flapped his wings harder, producing yet another twister in mere moments.

The Makuhita covered its face with both arms as it tried to brave through the Gust. It kept on stomping forward, one at a time, while fighting through it.

However, the Gust that is maintained by Pidgeotto proves to be too much. It couldn't hope to go through that twister even if tried.

And so, with one last moan, it fell forward onto its face. Unconscious.

That...went faster than Alice expected really. But considering that Pidgeotto is all speed and agility while Victoria's Pokemon are slow and powerful, the results of the battle are almost certain.

In the end, both Makuhita and Pignite fell against Pidgeotto. Their typing as well as their speed fares poorly against him.

Then Alice realized just in time that Pidgeotto is still blindly maintaining the Gust. "Alright, Pidgeotto, that's enough of that!"

Pidgeotto didn't know he had knocked the Makuhita out, nonetheless, he ceased maintaining the Gust before he stopped hovering in place. His talons clicking softly against the ground, now that he had the time to actually do it, he wiped his eyes free from the sands.

Alice nodded proudly at Pidgeotto. He had done well doing in two opponents in a row. Wordlessly, she returned Pidgeotto into his Pokeball, smiling at him as she did so.

"Ah..."

Then Alice heard Victoria said something. She looked at the girl, who still wore a surprised expression on her face.

"I...guess you'll be alright after all." Victoria eventually decided.

Alice just rolled her eyes, that was what she is trying to say the entire time.

Victoria returned the knocked out Makuhita from the ground into it's Pokeball before pocketing it. Then she stared at Alice hard, as if still trying to determine whether or not she is worthy to pass through.

Again, Alice can only hope Victoria won't make anymore ridiculous request. She really didn't have time for this.

Fortunately, what she said next had brought hope to Alice's expression. "...fine."

Alice sighed in relief, but Victoria still had something more to say.

"Just promise me you'll be careful okay? Keep a sharp eye.".

She can only nod at Victoria to acknowledge her.

Victoria smiled at Alice. "Alright. Then this is goodbye for now, Alice." She said, turning toward the main street's direction and walked there, but not before turning around and waving one last time. "And, good luck!"

Alice smiled and waved back at Victoria.

Alice didn't say anything, but she now felt relieved now that Victoria is out of the way. At least now she can focus more on worrying about herself than other people. She can only hope Victoria won't get anymore funny ideas while she is doing Florinia's request.

Now she needs to go down to the slums and get over to the other side of the Obsidia Ward. She would have done that...if her Pokemon is not in the immediate need of healing.

Sighing, she turned back around and walked back toward the main street, intending to heal her Pokemon.

* * *

 **Author Note :**

Alice isn't the only one to improve, her rivals does too. However, Victoria will have to try harder next time because in Reborn region, only the most stubborn can hope to achieve victory.

Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed the battle. It was hard writing this


	13. Chapter 13 : Traversal

"I would like to have my Pokemon checked up please." Alice said as she dropped off three Pokeball off at the counter.

The Nurse Joy manning the counter smiled as she took each of the shrunk Pokeball in her grip. "Of course, miss. If you would please wait a moment?"

Alice nodded, as she propped herself by her arm against the counter to wait out the entire process. Alice knew it shouldn't take that long now that there's no line.

After the battle with Victoria, somehow Alice found herself in the Pokemon Center when she should have been down in the slums by now. Points to Victoria for delaying her.

Alice sighed, noting that's just another thing she wanted to forget about. The other would be Florinia.

While the blonde trainer waited, she glanced around the Pokemon Center mindlessly. As one would expect in a crisis, Pokemon Center was like a safe haven for all people alike, not just trainers. The place was packed with all sorts of people, probably seeking shelter from the malicious plant life outside.

Alice's mind wandered back to how this could have happened really. In all her journey across the numerous regions she had never seen a case of this sort of plant life growth, neither does it actually attack people.

This has to be a Pokemon's work for sure, or again, some mad scientist trying to play god. Considering how many villainous team tried to get away with that on the news, she's not surprised.

"...excuse me, miss."

"Hmm?" Alice turned back toward the Nurse Joy and found her to be with a tray on her person

"Your Pokemon." The Nurse Joy smiled, as she brought the tray containing the three shrunk Pokeball. "

Putting the tray onto the counter, she gesture for Alice to take it. The blonde trainer did so immediately, pocketing the three Pokeball wordlessly.

"Thank you for using our services." Like all Nurse Joys before her, she bowed. "We hope to see you again."

Alice nodded her thanks, turning around to leave the Pokemon Center and get back on track. But then she stopped short. The question on how did this happen was still gnawing on her mind incessantly. She needed information.

Without another word, she turned around to face the Nurse Joy again and began. "Excuse me, Nurse Joy?"

The Nurse Joy noticed this and smiled back. "Yes, miss?"

"When and how exactly did this happen?"

"Hmm...what are you-" Then Nurse Joy made an 'oh' of realization. "Oh, you must be talking about the vines outside! Is that right, miss?'

"Yes." Alice answered simply.

Nurse Joy put her hand onto her chin in thought. "Let's see...I...really have no idea when 'exactly' did this happen. But I think this happened about a few days ago."

Alice processed that information. So with Nurse Joy not knowing when did this happen exactly meant the majority of the people in Obsidia were probably caught off guard by the sudden growth of plant life.

The Nurse Joy continued unabated, regardless of Alice's musing. "But for Jasper and Beryl Ward. I think it happened...about a week and half maybe?"

That halted Alice's train of thoughts immediately as she looked up at Nurse Joy with a frown on her face. "Wait," Alice called out, holding a hand up. "Did something similar happen before?"

"Oh, you didn't know miss?" The Nurse Joy tilted her head even as she explained. "Jasper and Beryl were also caught in a similar state. I think it's arguably worse there than Obsidia, leading to a majority of the civilians there to evacuate, while some went missing."

"How so?" Alice asked. This was really news to her other than the fact that she knew Jasper is in some crisis. Perhaps that's why there's a police blockade leading to Jasper after all.

"I think because it...happened about a week and half ago...I think?" The Nurse Joy said uncertainly.

That week and a half was enough to cause Jasper and Ward to be entirely blocked off. It seems the Reborn Administration is doing whatever they can in order to prevent a similar crisis from going out of control for the third time. And they brought an expert in the form of Florinia to do so this time to make sure this pacification attempt succeeded.

Alice nodded as she received the information, but she had one last question to ask. "What do you think did this, ma'am?"

The Nurse Joy shook her head. "I'm sorry, miss, but I can't help you with that. No one actually knew what exactly happened or what caused this."

"I see..." Alice said eventually. It seems that everyone didn't know.

Regardless of that, she found all the information she needed. Now, she just needed to fill the rest of the blanks herself. "Thank you for the information, Nurse Joy."

The Nurse Joy smiled at this. "No problem, miss. I'm glad that I could be of help."

Alice nodded, feeling that she shouldn't bother nurse anymore with her job, she left the counter. Not much later, she left the Pokemon Center with the intention of traversing the slums ingrained in her mind.

* * *

Alice returned to where she had fought Victoria about an hour ago easily enough before going down the pavement where Victoria had came from.

Walking down the pavement and turning around the only corner, she glanced absentmindedly at the sea. Even now, the smell is getting to her, but she had already far used to it than before she had first came here.

This briefly brought her memory back to Mosswater Factory. No matter how much she and Fern searched, she didn't find any trace of anything that might cause the sea to actually turn an unhealthy wine hue. All she knows that Team Meteor was probably the cause of this.

That brought Alice's thought to a stop as she tried to think about this. Could it be that the plant growth was caused by Team Meteor?

Then Alice shook her head, knowing that couldn't be true. What would they gain in a large scale destruction of a city block anyway? Or better yet, what would they gain in destroying three city blocks?

In her musing, Alice had failed to notice the wall she had walked into. "Ah..." She bumped against it, her body jolted in surprise, while she mentally berated herself for not paying attention.

Now that her mind is back into reality, she found that, yes, there is a wall in her path. So she looked to her left. There's a small doorway with stairs leading downward into the darkness.

"...this must be the slums." Alice muttered, even as she narrowed her eyes so she might see into the darkness, she couldn't really see far past the two street lamps that flickered.

Alice knew she would have to get down there eventually. So she took some deep breath, steeling herself for anything that might assault her down there and walked down the stairs.

* * *

Alice blinked several times as she tried to take in the sights. The area was more dark than she had first thought and required her eyes to get used to it first before she can get around. She blamed poor lighting for this.

After blinking a few times, her eyes had slowly, but surely gotten used to the poor lighting of the slums. Once she did, she took a stock on what the area has to offer her.

It was...frankly a mess. There were garbage and junks strewn about everywhere that literally made the Reborn City upstairs looks clean in comparison. Even the tiles were uneven, some were pried out, leaving bare ground visible. The street lights were even flickering. All in all, the seemingly constant state of disrepair the area seemed to be in told Alice much as to how this place had earned it's name.

Not only that, there were even some homeless people milling about. Said people that were now staring at her.

Alice is not one to miss those looks, and so she wanted to quickly made herself scarce of the area.

Alice looked around and found the only way out is forward. There's another doorway leading to parts unknown, but that is currently inaccessible to due to a fence.

With little choice, she walked forward toward the stairs. Even as she did so, she couldn't help, but feel a creeping shudder that no doubt come from some of the stares. She knew of this sensation, it always happens when one is sending some lecherous gaze her way.

Again, she is an adult, she dealt with it before, she could deal with it now.

As she walked, she noticed a faint light coming from left of the staircase, concealed by the railing. Curious as to what it is, she leaned her body to the left to see what could cause such lighting.

Alice blinked and she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. But the thing that give off the small glow was still there.

The blonde trainer didn't know what to make of the stuff that is lodged to the ground as it gives a yellowish-gold glow. It appears to be star shaped in origin, almost similar to Staryu. Finally, it appears to be leaking...some substance Alice didn't know what to make of.

Her curiosity got the better of her as she approached the artifact of her interest with the greatest ease. Once she hovered over it, she began inspecting it, but never touching it directly.

"You ever seen one o' them before?"

Alice almost jumped in surprise and quickly whirled around to see who had gotten behind her. Once she did, her right had already reached for a Pokeball to fend off the intruder.

Said intruder quickly raised his hands up and waved them frantically. "Whoa, hold on there, missy! I'm not trying to attack you or anything! Calm down!"

Alice finally got a good look on the one who had sneaked up upon her, it was one of those homeless men carrying a rucksack full of essentials.

But regardless of his begging of her to calm down, which she already is, she is not one to just let her guard down around strangers. "Then why did you sneak up on me like that?"

"Eh? I don't know, it felt funny, I guess." The man shrugged.

Alice was completely unamused by the man's nonchalant attitude. He snuck up on her and now he's pretending nothing happened.

But again, Alice is not here to look for a fight. She had wasted enough time already with Victoria, she didn't need to do so again.

Easing her stance, but never actually taking her eyes off the man, she spoke. "Then can I ask something?

"Sure, ask away."

The blonde trained stepped aside in order for the homeless man can see the artifact in all it's glory. "Is this a Star Piece?" Alice asked. If this was, indeed a Star Piece, it was one she never knew about.

"Nah, kiddo," The homeless man walked forward and stood before the shining artifact now. "Almost similar thought, isn't it? What's it called, 's a Light Shard." The homeless man explained.

Alice raised an eyebrow at that. "Light Shard?"

"That's right. They appear all 'round Reborn in random places." The homeless man sighed as his shoulder slumped. "I'd take it if it were valuable, but..."

Alice glanced sideways at the moment as she waited. "...but what?"

"But unfortunately, it'll disappear the moment anyone touches it. That's what, kiddo." He said, with a little more bite in his tone as he glanced over his shoulder at her..

Now Alice was glad she didn't just possibly made some sort of 'artifact' disappeared by touching it carelessly. For once, her curiosity hadn't got the better of her.

"Though, it has the side effect o' being kinda refreshin'. Restores your Pokemon and all." The homeless man explained further.

That...doesn't make the slightest sense to Alice. How could a shard could have such healing properties before disappearing anyway? Where did it even come from?

"...how does that work?" Alice couldn't help, but ask.

The homeless man just shrugged. "Don't ask me. Ask mother nature." He snarked.

"...why are you telling me this?"

"Eh, who knows? You're a trainer, perhaps you'll find something like this useful sometimes in the future."

Alice couldn't help, but agree with that. As she traveled to the next city after next city, she would without a doubt at times would be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no access to a Pokemon Center. Keeping an eye out for one would be a lifesaver in those instances.

But still, perhaps the old man would want to use if he comes here...there's no way he would just going to explain things to her like this.

"Do you want to use it?" Alice asked eventually.

"Nah, I'm a-okay with it. I figured you might be the one who wanted it."

Alice would want it...if she hadn't already gone out of her way to go back to the Pokemon Center and heal up after battling Victoria.

Sometimes, Alice didn't know if fate likes to play around with her or that she blundered into this herself. She felt somehow it's a combination of both.

She sighed, it doesn't matter regardless. Alice knew at least this way she didn't have to run back all the way to the Pokemon Center...again, if her team was in need of immediate first aid. Thought, screw up twice, she would really have to run all the way back.

She would not let that happen.

Then Alice finally noticed that someone was purposefully snapping their finger in front of her face. "Heeeello! Missy! Anyone home?"

Alice forcefully shook her head as she brought herself back into reality.

"Right, sorry."

"Anyway, you understand what I'm sayin' right?"

"Yes," Alice said simply. Regardless if she feels annoyed at the moment or not, it can still be useful when there's no immediate Pokemon Center in the vicinity or when she doesn't have healing items.

"Well, if you understand," The homeless man re-strapped the giant bag on his back before turning around. "Then I'll be goin' back to my pals now."

Alice stared at the Light Shard for a moment more, even as the man's footsteps were slowly becoming inaudible.

She turned around quickly to the man before shouting. "Thank you for your information, sir."

The man simply gave her a wave as he walked away.

Alice took that as a cue to depart as well, Florinia still awaits her presence. Taking one last look at the shard, Alice turned her attention toward the stairs. Intending to traverse the slums quickly.

* * *

After Alice had gone up the stairs to the second floor, she minded the uneven floors and the occasional holes among the floors.

The room was big, but not much else besides the numerous stacks of old boxes that took up almost everything in the right corner of the room. Then there's the homeless man lying sleeping on the floor.

However, there's another path leading to parts unknown in the upper left corner of the room. Without much to go on, Alice decided to head over there in an instant.

Before she heard some rustling from a nearby trash can.

She couldn't help, but crane her neck in that direction to see what had disturbed the metal can. To her surprise, the trash can rumbled loudly despite there's no clear activity on what caused it.

Are there Ghost-types here in Obsidia Slums? When Alice thought about it...it wasn't at all impossible. The state of disrepair the slum seems to be in could attract a lot of Ghost-types that loves to prank people.

Even as she mused, the trash can still clattered loudly. She edged slowly toward the only path out of the room, minding her distance between the trash can.

Then the rattling got louder.

Alice stepped backward in surprise, her hand already reaching for a Pokeball should there be a threat.

As the trash can rolled to a stop, so did the incessant clattering within it.

There was silence for a while, yet Alice didn't let her guard down around it.

Then much to Alice's confusion, she heard groaning from within. It's without a doubt sounded like what a living thing would do.

Another wild clattering happened before something pushed it's way out of the trash can and tumbled out onto it's side.

It was a Makuhita that had tumbled out of the trash can. It promptly got up before holding up the piece of apple. It then began to munch happily on the leftover food.

It took Alice a moment to register the sight. This is the first time she had actually seen a Makuhita with the audacity to raid some trash can for...some...leftovers she thinks.

However, in her musing Alice forgot to take into account that Makuhita happened to be looking her way when he was munching his food.

Then their eyes met.

To Alice, a Fighting-type is a good choice all-around hence why so many people have at least a single Fighting-type in their team.. They have some of the well-rounded movesets as well as the means of executing it properly, either close or ranged in attribute.

With her choice made, Alice held out a Pokeball containing one of her Pokemon. This is the time for another capture.

The Makuhita, seeing the Pokeball, munched on the rest of the food quickly before taking its stance and began punching the air, in an effort to intimidate its opponent.

However, Alice is far from intimidated. "Pidgeotto, it's time!" With that, she threw her Pokeball.

Once more, the bird of prey appeared with a mighty caw before hovering in place. He inspected his next opponent before realizing it's another Fighting-type without trainer directing it. This should be easier than some at least.

Without warning, Alice issued a command. "Pidgeotto! Gust!"

However, before Pidgeotto can make his move, the Makuhita finally blurred forward in a speed that shouldn't be possible for it's size.

Then it unleashed a Fake Out.

Pidgeotto stumbled backward, it's senses on a complete disarray. He shook his head as he tried to regain his bearing.

During that time, Makuhita leaped into the air, an arm held back as he unleashed a thrust straight into Pidgeotto's chest. The Force Palm of considerable power had sent Pidgeotto sailing across the air before tumbling across the floorboards.

Alice winced, in state that Fake Out grants to the enemy, you are essentially defenseless for that one turn for the opponent to do whatever they want.

She just narrowed her eyes at that. It seems this Makuhita knows what it's doing at least.

Alice heard a groan and saw that Pidgeotto is slowly getting up after his abuse by the enemy. After getting back on his feet, he glared at the enemy.

Pidgeotto is still issued a command and Alice yelled out. "Try again, Pidgeotto!"

Like Victoria's Makuhita before it, the Makuhita was helpless before the Gust that Pidgeotto had conjured. However, as it is a wild and untrained Pokemon, it cannot withstand as well as Victoria's Makuhita and so it was sent skidding backward a considerable distance.

Makuhita glared at Pidgeotto for that. He pulled his right arm backward before beginning to stomp forward in order to nail the Pidgeotto.

Pidgeotto looked unimpressed.

Alice simply narrowed her eyes once more. "Quick Attack to side step, Pidgeotto!"

As soon as Makuhita got close enough to nail Pidgeotto in the chest, he found that his Force Palm had struck nothing, but empty air. Pidgeotto is no longer there.

Unbeknownst to him, Pidgeotto had side-stepped cleanly around the attack and are right beside him.

"Now, Twister!"

Pidgeotto obeyed her command and unleashed with a single flap of his wing. The resulting literal twister that had been produced engulfed Makuhita within its embrace as Pidgeotto hovered backward out of reach for any stray projectile.

It was only seconds later that the Twister was starting to lose its intensity slowly, but surely. Once the Dragon-type storm dissipated entirely, it revealed the Makuhita, still standing, but sporting numerous bruises.

It's relatively thick fat had allowed it to maintain its footing without being flung. Regardless, that doesn't stop the damage that had been inflicted.

It was time to end the battle. Clenching her fist, Alice shouted. "Pidgeotto, Gust again!"

From the relative safety of the Pidgeotto's position, he began to flap his wings again in order to unleash Gust and end the fight.

Just as Pidgeotto unleashed another Gust, the Makuhita did something unexpected. It kicked up a fistful of sands straight toward the wind current.

This had...quite the unexpected result.

The dust kicked by Makuhita to be whipped about uncontrollably all around the room. Alice quickly covered her eyes with her arm to prevent the substance from entering her eyes.

Pidgeotto, however, wasn't so lucky. Both his wings currently used for hovering, are unable to cover its eyes. The dirt had entered his eyes, causing the avian to flinch back in response before landing and trying to get the dirt out of his eyes.

Makuhita was much more fortunate, as it had covered its eyes and prevent a majority of the dust from assaulting it's vision.

Without Pidgeotto to maintain the Gust, it ended almost as quickly as it came and all the dust hung around in mid-air at the moment.

And that was Makuhita's cue to strike. Pulling both of it's arms back, it began to stomp toward Pidgeotto in order to deal a world of pain into him.

However, Alice had already knew how to deal with Sand Attacks regarding Pidgeotto.

"He's still in front of you!" Alice shouted over the dust. "Gust again!"

Pidgeotto couldn't see...again, but he could still hear the command of his trainer. And without further delay, he flapped again in the direction of her trainer wished.

The Makuhita widened it's eyes, shocked by the unexpected retaliation from the blinded Pidgeotto. He was again blasted across the face with the violent wind current. It brought both arms forward in order to cover it's face and hopefully wait out the storm.

However, like before, it was sent skidding backward by the wind current, unable to fully stand it's ground.

"Stronger, Pidgeotto!" Alice ordered suddenly.

Then the winds had gotten stronger. And instead of being sent skidding backward like before, it was sent flying off it's feet and sailed into the air before hitting the wall with a painful thud before falling forward onto it's face.

Alice waited with baited breath, not once taking her eyes off the Makuhita. Pidgeotto, meanwhile, having enough time to finally wipe his eyes, began doing so.

Alice waited for five more seconds for Makuhita to respond in anyway. It remains unmoving.

With the Makuhita unconscious for the time being, Alice knew it is time to capture it. Pulling out an empty Pokeball, she threw it toward its direction. It sailed across the air before it collided against the Makuhita's form. It was drawn into the ball as a form of red energy.

And the ball dropped to the ground, where it shook once. Twice. Thrice. Then a final click rang.

Alice nodded in satisfaction at the capture of her newest Pokemon.

Said capture goes on much more smoothly than Alice had expected. Her former Purrloin put up much more a fight. Thought, the difference of speed and agility had something to do with that. Makuhita are just not fast enough to keep up with a Flying-type outside of a Fake out or luck.

With that, she couldn't help, but smile at Pidgeotto for another job well done. "Good job, Pidgeotto."

The Pidgeotto also looked toward her in satisfaction, glad to his trainer approved of his display.

Without much word, Alice pulled out Pidgeotto's Pokeball and returned him to his domain for the time being. Pocketing the shrunk Pokeball, her eyes wandered over to the lone Pokeball that contained Makuhita.

She jogged over before bending over and plucking it from the ground.

Alice nodded, for a Fighting-type, a Makuhita could do for the moment.

Then she heard someone clearing their throat as her head whipped around quickly to see who had done that.

To her surprise, the guy who had slept near the numerous stack of boxes are now very much awake, and are staring at her with clear annoyance at his expression.

"Excuse me, miss, but can you please get the hell out of here? You're interrupting a guy's sleep." He said to her, with more than a bite in his tone. Then he coughed, putting a hand onto his mouth. "And what's with all the dust?" He began waving the other arm about to clear out numerous substances across the air.

Alice could only look back at the guy with a monotone expression. However, she is a bit embarrassed that she had caused such a racket. It's not like she could help it, Pokemon battles always causes a lot of noise. If it's not her, then the rattling Makuhita do.

She did the only thing she could at the moment and apologized. "Sorry, sir."

Then she quickly made herself scarce, with the new Pokemon in tow before she can annoy someone else again.

* * *

Alice had seen her fair share of disrepair before, but not like this. This slum and the city above has to take the cake.

Lucky for her she chose to wore a skirt and not something so restrictive. The floors were so uneven, that some were even some rooms were missing a large part of it's floor, forcing her to jump between the existing, but old floorboards just to get the next area.

She hoped really that the floorboards won't give away under her weight. She wasn't even fat for Arceus sake. Alice likes to think herself as simply as fit as any person would get.

Why was Reborn like this anyway? What caused all of this disrepair? And why isn't anyone doing something about it?

Her thoughts were really riddled with so many questions that she almost missed her jump. She yelped as she swung her arms wildly, her body tilting backward dangerously over the missing floor.

After a few seconds in an attempt to rebalance herself, she did it before stumbling forward. Alice cursed her habit of musing like that.

Without another word, she walked down the path. Again, she saw a homeless man who sat there, looking motionless. But slums are not somewhere you can let your guard down, as Victoria herself had said, she had been attacked by some homeless men down here.

Alice bypassed the homeless man quickly in hopes she doesn't attract any unwanted attention before turning around the left corner where she spotted stairs to the right going downward, even deeper into the slums.

She headed down, not once letting go of her vigilance.

* * *

Alice headed down toward the stairs, where she saw even more of what the slums had to offer, disrepair and total chaos of the architecture. There's only one homeless man who was sitting by the fence with his back turned to her.

She crept past him silently in order to not draw attention. That's where she spotted two paths, one is a giant flight of stairs to her right leading upward and the other is a level path going past said stairway.

Alice sighed, while she wanted to get through the slums quickly, she had to choose carefully for this. The slums is somewhere Alice doesn't want to spend the night in just because she ends up lost.

Alice eyes wandered over to path to the left of the stairs, considering that stairs leading upward meant that it probably leads back to the city somehow, she knew that wouldn't be the right path to take. Her mindset, she began walking toward the path she chose.

Then she heard rustling, which caught her attention. Her eyes cast downward toward two boxes which stood together, seemingly unassuming even in an area like this.

But Alice had her eyebrow raised. For sure, she heard something coming from those two boxes.

She approached carefully, hand snaking slowly toward her Pokeball's direction. Her feet tiptoed against the bare ground in order to maintain silence.

Then something unbelievable happened.

The front box had...moved.

It didn't move slowly either. As if not knowing the meaning of subtlety, it bolted down toward the path to the left of the stairs. Then it was gone before Alice knew it.

Alice just...stood there, half-surprised and half-shocked at the impossible turn of events. She knew for a fact that cardboard boxes don't just sprout feets and move. Unless there's someone hiding underneath it.

"Wha-?"

In her musing, she forgot about the man behind her. She quickly turned her head back to look at his direction. To her relief, he was still there, in a half-sitting position on the fence. But he seems to be have a shocked expression on his face and seems to be looking at her direction. However, a closer look revealed that he was actually paying attention to the path beside the stairs.

It didn't take long for Alice to realize he must've seen the unbelievable thing she saw as well, a moving cardboard box.

Somehow, Alice felt she should know this kind of trick. It was in another video game.

She quickly shook her head, she has to stop musing in dangerous territories like this. Last time, she almost fell to nowhere.

Alice thought about what to do now. But thinking about it, she really didn't want to head down toward where the box had gone to now. It was some sort of trap, Alice knew that much. Designed to cause people to uphold their inner curiosity before the trap is sprung.

After the fiasco with Fern and the vine, she wanted to tone down her curiosity just a bit.

Without much of a choice, she turned toward the only source of information she had left. "Excuse me, sir?"

"What?"

Alice sighed, the guy acted as if seeing a moving cardboard box was something incredible. No box can move, logically speaking, there's something causing it.

So she called out to the homeless man again. "Sir?" She called, louder this time.

"Wha-I mean," The homeless man finally shook his head, bringing his mind back into reality again. "Yeah?"

Alice was glad she could get the man's attention. "Do you perhaps know the way out of the slums?"

"A way out?" Alice nodded to him for confirmation. "Well, if you want a way out, just go vack the way you came really." He said, while pointing toward the stairs trainer had came from.

Alice just looked unamused by that response.

However, the man's answer quickly changed. "Or you could head up the stairs and presto. You should be able to find a way out eventually."

Alice raised an eyebrow. Wasn't going up supposed to take her back to the city and not deeper into the slums? Or were the slums not that big in the first place?

Alice sighed, this day were really starting to take a toll on her head. She really wanted to get this over with.

Biting her lip, she nodded back to the man anyway. "Thank you, sir."

"Yeah, yeah, now get out of here..." He said nonchalantly while waving her off before firmly sitting down. "...I really need to stop daydreaming." Alice heard the man mutter under his breath.

Alice just sighed at that, that was real, even she saw that as well, but that was a thought for another time. The corner of her eyes now spotted the flight of stairs to the right. Hoping she had made the right decision about this, she walked up there. She took one step at a time.

She can only hope the homeless man is not lying to her.

* * *

Alice ran up the stairs, taking two steps at a time to waste less time. In no time, she is in clear view of daylight.

But as she had spent an extended amount of time underground, the daylight blinded her, causing her to yelp, quickly covering her eyes as she did so. Her eyes needed time to adjust. Slowly, but surely she climbed up toward where the daylight came from.

As she climbed upward, the more her eyes adjust to the light assaulting them. As she took the final step upward, her eyes had finally adjusted, allowing her to see Reborn City in it's entirety without being obscured in anyway.

Up here, Alice could see the rest of the ward and some part of the city much more clearly.

Alice couldn't help, but stare in both awe and shock at the devastation the rampaging plant life had caused to Obsidia. Even more, this was all caused in the short interval of mere two days. That was before she arrived.

But then suddenly, what Nurse Joy had said popped into her head, about two more similar occurrences that had happened in the week before she had arrived.

So with some reluctance, her head slowly turned northwest. That was the direction she knew should lead to Jasper Ward.

Alice knew now that thinking Obsidia had been 'devastated' by the plant life was a massive understatement. Where Obsidia was caught in a mere budding state, Jasper and Beryl was not so lucky as evidence by what she was seeing right now.

The high plateau where both wards had been located doesn't hide anything from her eyes. Smokes raising up as high up as it can toward the sky. Some buildings tilting dangerously in either direction, vines wrapping around them like a snake would with a prey. That's not even covering the cracks that ran on some skyscrapers that somehow withstood being tilted over. Finally, some buildings had outright collapsed, either tilting completely in one direction or their upper half got torn off and fell.

Looking up toward where Beryl is positioned, right above Jasper, it wasn't so lucky as well. Suffering about the same state as Jasper does. Thought miraculously, the bridge to the right of Jasper remains intact for some reason which also serves as the city gates for all trains passing through.

Alice stood there in silence, taking it all in. Is this what would happen to Obsidia in a week and a half later? Or maybe even earlier than that? What could Pokemon could even cause such large scale destruction?

Some legendaries popped into Alice's mind. But not one of them could control plants. Only a Celebi or Virizion could have done this...but Alice knew even that's impossible. Those two didn't really have control over plants, even if they are Grass-types.

Reborn community is wise to try and take care of the third one quickly as it has been only two days. There's still enough time to prevent another disaster.

With that, Alice knew she have to be quick either. Spotting a door across the rooftop, she jogged over there, all the while reminding herself to stay away from the ledges.

* * *

 **Author Note :**

Writing dungeon crawling is a hard task, especially trying to translate everything from in-game to novelization, but regardless, it is finished. Nothing much to do here except...well, go through a dungeon, oh and getting a new Pokemon, of course. Can't forget about that

With that in mind, stay tuned for many more chapters to come!


	14. Chapter 14 : Ganged Up

Alice's eyes had to adjust again as she entered the darkness of the slums. But seeing as she had traversed the darkness mere moments ago, it didn't take long for her eyes to get used to it again.

Again, she found herself in the slums, where everything that had to do bad engineering work resides.

This time, there's a path leading forward with another leading off to the right at the end. The hallway consist of some discarded boxes haphazardly placed around, which she knew won't house some Pokemon, considering how haphazard they are. There are two men here, another homeless man who stared at her the moment she had entered and a scientist who was doing his own business, silently messing with his touchpad, probably doing research.

Alice didn't mind both of these men and walked past them without another word. She is not looking for a fight anyway.

As she find herself turning toward the right near the end of the short hallway, Alice found that the this part of the slums seems to share the state of disrepair that the former half possess. Mainly, it's lack of floorboards.

She just shook her head, steeling her nerves as she prepared to jump around again to make her way through. This time, she does better, as she forced herself to not muse about while doing death-defying leaps.

Finally, she made it to the end without incident and continued to walk onward to the next room.

The next room appeared to be as plain as any person could see, except for the path leading to somewhere else in the upper right corner of the room. Without any other path to take, Alice took that one.

That was when Alice saw a fork in the road for her. One leading downward which lead to another set of path near the end. Second, this lead leads forward, with more paths to the left as it goes on.

Before Alice could make a choice, however, she had heard...growling? It was faint, but Alice didn't mistake that for something a person could do. It sounds like something a Pokemon would do.

Slowly, her neck craned toward the direction it had came from. The straightforward path.

And what caught her attention...was a cardboard box not completely unsimilar to the one she had seen before.

Alice just gave the box a deadpan. A box that had positioned itself in the middle of the path, seemed unassuming to all, but to the sharpest of observers. She had seen this trick before.

That is definitely not a normal box in anyway. In fact, it probably isn't.

Much to Alice's surprise, it growled before rustling just a bit and remaining motionless after that. Boxes don't growl, neither could they move for that matter..

Her hand snaked it's way toward one of her Pokeball as she lightly took step forward the box, intending to surprise it's occupants.

Once Alice got close to within arm's reach of the box, the growling became much more apparent.

Now she knew for sure that the cardboard box is not a normal one.

Without much fanfare, Alice kicked the box lightly. As she expected, the box began speeding down the path at breakneck speed. Then it disappeared around a corner

Alice just gave it a deadpan look, without a doubt that had to be a person hiding underneath...or at least a Pokemon did.

Not wanting to be caught in a spider web, she decided to try her luck and try the right path, perhaps it might lead her somewhere for once.

Much to her frustration, however, the right path was the right one, but it's also a wrong one. It had merely taken her on a slight detour, going in circles before ending up at the doorway that box probably had disapperead through.

Alice sighed, as she saw no other path or doorway on the way here, she took a deep breath before going inside.

* * *

Fortunately for Alice, the doorway leads down to a flight of stairs even more deeper into the slums without any apparent traps waiting for her. Still, she doesn't let her guard down just yet.

As she took the last step off the stairs, she saw another homeless man, thought she didn't mind him, and just went down the path.

Down the path there's was U-turn and all, which she promptly followed. This leads to another hallway with a doorway to the end.

Alice is really starting to get sick of long paths and doorways. How come things can never be so simple for Pokemon Trainer? Especially when it comes to traversing a location.

Again, she felt as if fate was playing around with her. Thought, she saved that complaint in her head for later, right now she had to get out of this slums. Without a word, she stepped through the doorway.

Alice stepped into the room...which surprisingly is smaller than most others found that it has boxes strewn everywhere in a haphazard fashion. Some are stacked neatly, some are lying about around the ground. And there's also a shutter blocking her path...again.

But that not what caught her attention.

What caught her attention, however, was the Scraggy that was running away from her. And it was heading to a larger form that is standing with it's back to her.

The Scraggy stopped right behind the larger form and began to speak. "Scra...aagg...ggy!"

Alice kept a close on what the larger form would do. Then a noise caught her attention. Said noises comes from the two boxes to the left and right of the larger form respectively.

Then both are lifted and thrown aside.

This reveals two more Scraggy, much to Alice's surprise. Was she really chasing that one Scraggy all this time? Or was she chasing more than one?

Regardless, her question remain unanswered as the Scraggy she was chasing took position beside the larger Pokemon and glared at her. It's friends quickly did the same.

Her hand already quietly reached for a Pokeball. Thought, she hoped she can avoid a needless fight.

Then finally, the larger form glanced behind it from it's shoulder before turning around to reveal it's full figure.

"A Scrafty?" She murmured.

She couldn't muse, not that she wanted to as the Scrafty is stomping toward her menacingly. Alice knew what it was up to and it's not good. Pokemon could understand human, she hoped if she spoke, she can avoid a fight.

With that, she tried her luck. "Wait," She held up her left hand.

The Scrafty quickly stopped short, tilting it's head toward her.

"I don't mean to chase the Scraggies. I'm just here to pass through. I'm not looking for a fight."Her other hand left the Pokeball she had been gripping in order to lessen the hostility between them.

Alice said what she had to say, now she can only hope the Scrafty would see reason and defuse the situation.

The Scrafty to Alice, at least, seemed to contemplate upon this for a moment.

Unfortunately, for Alice, however, fate was not smiling down upon her at that moment as the Scraggy she had been chasing had suddenly cried out, catching the attention of everyone present.

"Scra, Scraagy!"

"Afty?" The Scrafty tilted his head.

"Scraaaaggy!" The Scraggy pointed at Alice before resuming his glare.

Alice gritted her teeth, she couldn't understand what it was saying, but it's obvious what it was said. Especially judging from the way the Scraggy keeps pointing at her.

Her gut feeling was right when the Scrafty suddenly turned it's gaze back to her, now visible with a scowl.

Alice sighed, she wondered why some Pokemon can be incredibly unreasonable. This is getting annoying even for her as she had no more time to waste and this is wasting time.

Regardless, complaining won't help, Alice knew this. Best to engage them in battle and end it as quickly as possible.

Alice ended her musing when she heard the collective gang of Pokemon growled at her. She analyzed quickly enough to know that they are all advancing to her. This is becoming an unfair fight. Alice knew that much. In order to level out the playing field, she needed two Pokemon out there to do work.

Her choice made, she pulled out two Pokeball, one in each hand. And threw them up. "Frogadier! Makuhita! It's time!"

The Pokemon Gang all took a step back upon finding the blonde trainer to have Pokemon with her. But then they stared back just as resolutely as before, this changes nothing. The enemy will still go down.

Meanwhile, Alice took a look at the Pokemon Gang. At the present, unless there's backup involved, there's three Scraggies and one Scrafty, with the latter possibly the most powerful of the group.

Alice couldn't help, but to try possibly the oldest trick in the book. Logic says they'll go down faster.

With that, she made her first move. The element of surprise is a necessity. "Frogadier! Quick Attack for maneuver! Don't let them get a bead on you!"

Without another word, again, Frogadier disappeared. The Pokemon gang blinked, trying to register the now-missing Frogadier.

A breeze had came to caress their being. The Pokemon Gang took a step back from that. Then another and another.

Scrafty took no time to figure out what's up. Looking all around, it's hunch was right. Frogadier was literally running circles all around them.

"Round!"

Then without warning, the Gang's eardrums were all assaulted by a very powerful noise. Causing them to cover their ears, some even had their knees hold their floor while scratching their head in a desperate attempt to recover their senses

However, Alice has yet to lose her momentum. "Now, Fake out the Scrafty!" Alice commanded.

Makuhita took a deep breath, preparing to obey his trainer's command. His eyes tracked the still recovering Pokemon before in question, before he blurred forward.

Scrafty was caught off guard, blindsided by the trainer's Makuhita. He had managed to get inside the Gang midst before he clapped his hands together as loud as he could.

The resulting shock wave from the clap had caused the Scrafty to stumble about. That was Makuhita's chance!

Fortunately, Alice saw that as well. "Now, Arm Thrust!"

Still close enough from executing the Fake Out attack, Makuhita does what he do best, attack. Pulling both arms back as far as back as he could, he then unleashed wave after wave of palm thrust, each aimed at differing points on Scrafty's body.

The Scrafty, despite being evolved Pokemon, couldn't help, but grunt and yelp every time the thrust hit different parts of it's body. First, it was the face, then the arms, then it's midriff. It had all almost happened at the same time.

Makuhita stopped for a second before landing in one last powerful blow. The Scrafty grunted as massive amount of air were pushed out of his lungs as he skid backward.

Makuhita were satisfied that his attack worked nicely, fist pumping for it's small victory. He then turned around to face the little guys...only for numerous dust to burst into his face out of nowhere.

This caused Makuhita to reel back, furiously wiping his eyes trying to clear it out. The three Scraggies promptly giggled happily.

Alice bit her lip, she didn't expect that. She should've known Dark-types are known for playing dirty anyway.

If they can play dirty, so could she. "Frogadier! Quick Attack!"

The Scraggies, like Scrafty before them, were caught off guard. The blur had struck each and everyone of them in the back. Frogadier's lack of strength in his physical blows meant they only stumbled forward.

But that was enough for Alice. "Makuhita! They're in front of you! Sand Attack!"

Makuhita was in the middle of wiping away the sand from his eyes while he heard the order. He at least knew he hadn't stumbled about and faced the wrong direction. So he must be facing the right direction now.

He pulled an arm back and struck the ground, causing his gloved fingers to dig into the bare ground. Then without warning, he swiped a large number of dust toward the three Scraggies.

The same routine had happened to the Scraggies. They were furiously scratching away at their eyes, trying to recover their eyesight.

"Frogadier! Water Pulse all three!"

Frogadier knew it was her turn again. So she revealed herself, right above the band of Scraggies and fired a round blast of water that rained down water upon them. Without any problem, they took it, being pushed to the floor by the full force of the attack and are now lying senseless for a time.

While Alice knew she had taken the element of surprise to heart, now it is gone. Without a doubt, the opponent now would try to retaliate for the abuse they received earlier.

The battle is not over yet.

Just as Alice expected, the Scrafty had gotten up before he walked forward. Alice blinked, she realized that wasn't walking...more like swaggering.

Her eyes widened as she took a look at Makuhita.

Just as the blonde trainer had feared. Her Makuhita had glowed red, his strength having increased tremendously...but at the cost of his senses. She winced as it began to stumble about in confusion.

Alice looked at Scrafty again, it had long abandoned it's swaggering, quickly picking up the pace before going into a run.

"Frogadier! Stop him! Water Pulse!"

The Frogadier reappeared in mid-air, just right above the running Scrafty behind it. Taking some deep breath, it then fired an accurate Water Pulse in an attempt to cancel its attack run.

The attack struck and soaked the Scrafty from head to toe. However, to Alice's shock, it didn't stop despite the attack.

Not only that, Scrafty, with a glint in his eyes, turned around suddenly and reached out toward Frogadier.

She was surprised as she is grabbed by the ankle. Try as she might to act quickly and break free, the G-force rendered that useless as she is soon thrown forward.

Makuhita took the role of being the cushion for her, it had not made it any less painful, however. She literally bounced off the thick fat of the Pokemon, sailing over the Scrafty before hitting the ground painfully some distance away.

Makuhita grunted as his back was struck by something, this caused him to stumble forward, falling onto it's chin painfully.

This is where the three Scraggies had already got rid of the dust that assaulted their vision mostly due to the blast of water. Their eyes possess dangerous glint inside, full of the thought of revenge on the fallen Makuhita. They began hounding him using numerous dark-purple glowing fist.

Makuhita yelped, covering his face as best as he could to stave off the numerous and merciless Feint Attack.

Scrafty glared, his Scraggies should be able to do rest. However, his eyes narrowed, not forgetting the numerous Arm Thrust the Pokemon had done to it earlier. Again it broke into a run to unleash another attack.

Alice had other ideas, however. "Frogadier! Quick Attack then aerial Pound!"

Just as Scrafty about to unleash a Low Kick, his eyes had bulged out painfully as something came down hard onto his head.

Frogadier smiled in satisfaction, no one does her comrades in battle like that in front of her. And so the Scrafty paid it's due with a solid chop onto it's head via Pound.

"Grab and hang onto it!"

For Frogadier, that command translates into her jumping onto the Scrafty's beak, wrapping her her legs and arms around it before hanging on.

Now fully recovered, as expected, Scrafty began thrashing around, trying to reach for it's back where the frog had clung onto it. It growled, trying it's hardest to break free from the Pokemon.

"Pound! Keep it under control!"

Frogadier did so, striking Scrafty's head with Pound, leaving it's senseless for a moment. And anytime it decides to do something funny like struggle again, she Pounded on it.

Now with Scrafty busy, she hadn't forgotten about her Makuhita. "Makuhita! If you can hear me. Vital Throw one of them!"

The Scraggies were too busy to actually notice the command, the Makuhita did, however.

Before the Scraggies could unleash another barrages of Feint Attacks on the downed Makuhita, they were suddenly blown aside. Makuhita had charged through them.

The central Scraggy had the unfortunate honor of being chosen by Makuhita for his next attack. Despite still being blinded by the sand, Makuhita could somehow feel where his desired target is and reached out.

The center Scraggy widened his eyes as the burly Makuhita had secured its left leg in his grasp.

Alice saw this, and promptly yelled. "Now, throw him toward Scrafty!"

Makuhita did that, and the Scraggy flew.

Meanwhile, Frogadier was in the midst of raining down Pound after Pound onto the Scrafty once in awhile to keep it under control and for her not to be thrown off.

"Frogadier, get out of there!"

She looked up and widened her eyes when she saw the sailing Scraggy heading right for her. That was the time for her to make herself scarce. Unwrapping her legs from the Scrafty's neck, she shot off from it with a graceful flip.

Just in time for the Scrafty to finally breathe in a sigh of relief...only to find itself bowled over by a flying Scraggy. Both stumbled across the ground, rolling about to a stop just short before the shutter

Both didn't get up, out of commission.

It was time to take care of the final two. "Frogadier! Round! Makuhita! Vital Throw! Pick one each!"

Frogadier, in the middle of her leap, had finally found herself landing on her feet. Then she ran forward, her eyes on the left Scraggy. Meanwhile, Makuhita, still couldn't see, use Vital Throw to sense the right Scraggy.

The Scraggy was long past their shock of seeing their leader fall and are now back on the defensive again. They readied their Feint Attack to counter the incoming opponents.

As Frogadier and Makuhita closed in, both Scraggies pulled their arm back in preparation for a counter attack.

And they clashed.

Whereas Makuhita took the Feint Attack right to his cheek, Frogadier had fired her Round earlier, causing her chosen Scraggy to stop short and chattered it's teeth.

The other Scraggy simply looked in shock, it's fist planted firmly on the Makuhita's cheek...yet it didn't budge one bit. Before it could so much as try to get out of there, it found it's right arm being secured in a vice grip.

And he was sent flying across the Makuhita's shoulder toward his leader's resting place, stumbling for a bit across the ground before rolling to a stop, unmoving. Meanwhile, Frogadier's chosen Scraggy tried to move its body, but it couldn't, not with the Round still assaulting it and rattling the bones in it's body.

Unfortunately, it's eyes rolled up into it's head before dropping onto it's knees and collapsed.

All was silent.

Frogadier and Makuhita both breathed in and out heavily. For a Pokemon Gang, they sure put up quite a fight. For Frogadier's part, that was simply because she is running around nearly all the time with Quick Attack while Makuhita kept on being abused left and right by the numerous Pokemon.

That had been quite the battle, but her team are still victorious nonetheless with none of the Pokemon Gang remained standing. Alice particularly is proud of Makuhita, rookie or not, he still knows how to fight.

Thought she didn't have time to apply the classic strategy though, much to her chagrin. The strategy of taking out the minions first.

But before Alice could muse even further, she heard groaning which quickly brought her thoughts to a halt as she took a look.

It was the Scrafty. It groaned, but not only that, it starts to hoist itself up, struggling while doing so.

Both Frogaider and Makuhita tensed up, quickly assuming their respective stances once more in case the Scrafty decided to do something funny. Considering Dark-types are infamous for their dirty tricks, it couldn't be helped.

Groaning, the Scrafty got up with great effort on it's part. Whether or not, it's still hostile, it is no longer a threat, as it's injuries are too severe to actually allowed to fight anymore. Alice could see that clearly.

It then glared at her, as if spoiling for even more fight. Frogadier and Makuhita got in front of their trainer, ready to defend her.

Alice just sighed, the Scrafty is stubborn, which doesn't bode well for her nor for itself. So, she spoke. "Give up, Scrafty. You can't win against us."

The Scrafty resumed glaring at them, as if not registering the trainer's words. This caused minor irritation to swell within Frogadier and Makuhita. Does this Pokemon still wish to be knocked out into next week perhaps?

It then made to move suddenly.

Frogadier and Makuhita almost jumped at it together if it weren't for the fact that it moved aw while turning his back toward them. Both Pokemon are confused as they looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

Alice just decided to watch it even more carefully. It might still be up to something.

The Scrafty walked across the room, stopping just short of the barred doorway. What is it up to?

To Alice's surprise then, it had wedged it's fingers into the bottom of the shutter. With great effort, the Scrafty lift the shutter up. Slowly, but surely, it's starting to remove the blockade by lifting it up and away.

In no time at all, the doorway is no longer barred. Now Alice can access it.

The Scrafty turned to look at Alice. Again, it glared at her. But instead of hostility, it seems to be...respect?

This was proven next by a nod coming from it. "Scraf...ty..." It grunted.

"...thank you?" She thanked uncertainly. That was unexpected.

The Scrafty then left through the doorway, but not before calling onto it's knocked out minions. "SCRAFTY!"

Almost as if turned on by a switch, all the knocked out Scraggies all assumed a straightened pose before running away as quick as their feet could muster. They all left through the doorway unbarred by Scrafty.

Said Pokemon took one last look at Alice and her Pokemon before making itself scarce as well.

Alice was...confused to say, the least. Less than 10 minutes ago it and the Pokemon Gang it was leading are hostile, and now it's showing her the way out? Was it really one of those 'obey the strong' scenario?

Alice just sighed, not really caring in the end. All she cared about right now is getting the hell out of dodge before she draw anymore ire from the local populace, human or Pokemon alike.

With that, she pulled out two Pokeball. "Frogadier, Makuhita, return!" Two red beams pulled both Pokemon back into their respective Pokeball before Alice pocketed them.

Nothing more to do here at the moment, Alice walked across the room toward the now shutter-free doorway.

Entering the next room, it quickly turned to the right, she followed. As she is in the middle of walking, she could feel a strong breeze whooshing past her.

Alice looked up. Strong breeze meant only one thing, she is close to the way out. She couldn't help, but smile at that.

So, she jogged the rest of the way out. Very soon, she saw daylight filtering in through the doorway to her upper right some distance away, no doubt leading back into the outside world.

She's finally out of the slums.

* * *

"No, you don't understand, sir." Alice tried to argue at the two cops blocking her path. "I was...supposed to meet up with Florinia at Obsidia Park."

"Yeah, as if we didn't hear that before." The left cop snarked.

"Shut up!" The right cop whispered harshly at his partner before turning back to Alice with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, miss, but we can't do that. No matter what you say."

Again, Alice found herself arguing with two cops that had blocked her path toward her destination moments only moments after she had exited the slums. Even as she tried to desperately argue, the cops won't budge. The worst part is that she is not even lying about this.

And again, Alice tried to argue with the two cops so they can see reason. "Sir, I'm sure that Florinia would have informed all the officers in the area al-"

"Miss, I'm sorry to inform you, but we haven't heard such a thing." The right cop cut her off sharply. "Besides, Obsidia Park is said to be the source of the plant growth. We can't, as cops, sent out civilians out there. Hence why we have this conversation right now." The cop explained gently.

"Yeah, miss, so do us all a favor and shoo." The left cop even goes as far as making a 'shoo' gesture with his hand. "We have business to attend to."

"I told you to shut up, rookie!" The right cop whispered harshly again, even as he grumbled.

"But..." Alice opened her mouth to argue, but seeing the resolute expression the two cops have, in all probability, they won't budge no matter what she had to say.

So she closed her mouth again, turned around before walking away. "...fine."

The right cop was about to argue again when he saw the girl about to say something, but then he smiled at the retreating figure. "Thank you for understanding, miss. We assure you, we are doing everything we can to resolve this crisis. Please be patient."

Alice rolled her eyes at how many times she had heard that already from the emergency broadcast alone.

She eventually just sighed as she rubbed her head, this is starting to get annoying to her. Florinia asked for her help, but she didn't bother to notify all the cops about a civilian presence in the area, which is her.

But...when Alice thought about it, it wasn't completely bad in a way. At least this way she can have the excuse to not be in Obsidia Park...that is provided Florinia completely forgot about notifying the cops about her presence.

If she finds out and rectified every cop in the vicinity, however, Alice knew she'll have to go back to helping her...which in the end, just suits her fine. It's not like anything had changed from the original reason she came here for. In fact, Florinia better remember, the plant life will just grow out of control like this.

So for now, Alice knew she needed a refuge somewhere in the city. And she knew for sure she won't be coming back through the slums. The slums reeks something fierce already.

That leaves Alice with little choice, but to go to where the cops suggested just now. The Coral Ward.

Wordlessly, she headed south, toward and into the tunnel staircase leading into the coastal ward.

* * *

 **Author Note :**

Sorry for being late guys, I honestly forgot to update. Sorry for the inconvinience.

On a side note, this here is the latest chapter. Nothing much to say, except for that small event with the Scraggy gang.

Look forward to any future chapters.


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